A former employee suing a prominent Des Moines plastic surgeon dismissed the lawsuit before trial, but an emergency order from the Iowa Board of Medicine means more legal trouble for Dr. Ronald Bergman.
Peggy West’s firing comes as a state board prepares to hold a hearing on Bergman’s fitness to continue practicing medicine. The board’s concern stems from concerns that Bergman, who is 74, may have neurological damage that renders him unfit to practice medicine. The board suspended Bergman’s medical license on Dec. 16, and it remains suspended, according to online records.
West worked for three months in 2019 for Dr. Ronald Bergman as the administrator of Bergman Folkers Plastic Surgery, a practice located in a landmark mansion on Grand Avenue. She alleged that Bergman, now 74, created a workplace rife with sexual harassment for her and other female employees.
West also objected to his billing practices, which she told him violated federal law, and later received a substantial payout in a settlement Bergman paid after she filed a lawsuit alleging he overbilled Medicare and Medicaid.
After she left, she alleged, he filed false police reports accusing her of theft, which resulted in the criminal charges against her being quickly dismissed.
From 2021:Prominent Iowa surgeon accused of making vulgar, crude sexual comments to women in office
West’s sexual harassment lawsuit is one of at least three filed against him by former female employees. The trial was scheduled for early January, but was postponed at the end of last year.
On Friday, West’s attorney filed a motion to have the case dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. West previously dismissed additional claims against Polk County and Bergman’s girlfriend, a Polk County sheriff’s deputy.
Such filings to dismiss prosecutors often follow out-of-court settlements, but West’s attorneys declined to comment, and attorneys for Bergman did not respond to messages from the Des Moines Register. Bergman has denied all allegations of misconduct in the past.
State Board: Bergman rejected the assessment
Bergman’s communications have also been censured by the State Board, which last year fined Bergman $2,500 for “inappropriate text messages to an employee.” But that citation was packaged into a settlement related to the board’s finding that Bergman suffered from hand tremors that would interfere with his ability to safely perform surgery.
Under the agreement, finalized in June 2022, Bergman agreed to limit his practice to certain procedures, allow a board monitor to monitor some of his work and undergo a full neuropsychological evaluation.
That last provision led to the emergency order in December. According to the Board, Bergman announced through his attorney in November that he would not complete the required evaluation. The board responded by suspending his license.
“It is not safe for (Bergman) to continue to practice medicine until this matter is resolved,” the order said.
Lawsuit: The workplace is rife with sexual misconduct
West said in her suit that during her employment, she overheard Bergman regularly making sexual comments to women in the office, including herself. She said he showed her obscene photos of himself and his girlfriend. After a staff party, she said, she heard him say to a young clerk, “I like your dress! I’d like to bend you over the exam table.”
The turning point for Bergman was when the practice received notification of a sexual harassment complaint from a former employee, which led to her resignation, according to the lawsuit.
More:A lawsuit accuses a former minister at a West Des Moines church of sexually abusing him during counseling
After resignation, retaliation
A few months after she left the practice, West said in her suit, she was contacted by the Iowa Board of Medicine and cooperated with an investigation then underway. After Bergman found out, she claimed, he and his girlfriend conspired to get revenge on her. In January 2020, Bergman filed police reports accusing her West of forgery and stealing more than $4,000 from the practice.
The Polk County Prosecutor’s Office dropped the charges later that year, and the prosecutor wrote in court filings that the office was investigating “allegations of retaliatory reporting for criminal prosecution.”
From October:Iowa auditor candidate Todd Halbur wins $1 million in whistleblower lawsuit against state
Billing fraud lawsuits cost $800,000
During her brief employment, West said in the lawsuit, she also repeatedly confronted Bergman about his billing practices, including submitting bills to Medicare and Medicaid that exaggerated procedures performed or were overbilled for services that provided by trainee physicians or physician assistants instead of Bergman himself.
Bergman threatened that his girlfriend knew officials who could retaliate against her, as well as knowing people in the “Mexican Mafia” who “could make people disappear,” according to court filings.
After he resigned, West sued Bergman for toll fraud using a federal law that allows people to file lawsuits on behalf of the government and, if successful, receive a share of any subsequent award. Bergman paid $800,000 to settle the case in October 2022, of which West received $200,000. Bergman has denied any wrongdoing through his lawyers.
For subscribers:Plastic surgeon sued for sexual misconduct settles Medicare/Medicaid fraud claims for $800,000
Other claims against Ronald Bergman
Still active against Berman is a lawsuit filed by Rhonda Swanson, a former administrative assistant, who accuses him of harassment, unpaid wages and age and gender discrimination.
Swanson’s complaint echoes many of the details of West’s lawsuit, including Bergman’s offensive comments and sharing of inappropriate photos, as well as ominous comments about ties to the Mexican Mafia. In addition, Swanson, who is 50, claims Bergman refused to train her for some jobs because of her age, saying she wanted a “young, fresh look for her work.”
Her lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in May 2024.
The third lawsuit was led by Dr. Susan Koonen, who completed part of her plastic surgery studies at Bergman’s practice. She also alleged that Bergman made sexually inappropriate comments and said she and other doctors at the fellowship clinic were alternately overworked or denied access to patients, and also denied the training and supervision Bergman was contractually obligated to provide.
After Bergman learned that Kuhnen had complained to her supervisor at Mercy Hospital, he tried to prevent her from completing the program in retaliation, and later publicly disparaged and professionally undermined her despite a non-disparagement agreement between them, according to her complaint.
That suit, which named Mercy as well as Bergman and his partner Dr. Brian Folkers, was filed in February 2020 and dismissed by Koonen in May 2022.
William Morris covers the courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at [email protected], 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.
