Black surgery technician reassigned over race settles discrimination lawsuit out of court

After a patient who was being prepped for surgery told their doctor, “I hope there are only white people in the room,” Clestina Lamai said in a lawsuit that she was removed from the care team, presumably because she is Black.

That occurred in 2022 while Lamai, a surgical technician, was preparing to do her job. She said she was assigned other work.

Lamai sued her employer, Iowa Methodist Medical Center, in 2023. The case finally went to trial on Jan. 26. Now, according to reporting in a local newspaper, that case has been settled out of court after the two parties reached an agreement. 

The Des Moines Register wrote that, on Jan. 30, the hospital and attorneys representing Lamai informed the court they wished to settle the case on their own terms. This happened as the jury was deliberating. 

The civil lawsuit was formally dismissed on March 4, after the terms of the agreement were finalized.

Those terms, however, remain undisclosed. The Des Moines Register said Lamai’s attorney declined to provide details on the specifics, and Iowa Methodist did not return a request for comment.

In 2024, an attempt to have the case dismissed was rejected. Despite the hospital saying it had a policy not to honor the racist requests of patients, the employees responsible for removing Lamai from the surgery testified that they were not aware of any such policy. 

For more, read the full story from the Des Moines Register at the link below.