Professor Robert Dunn, the head of department of orthopaedic surgery at UCT, responds to the Sunday Independent’s article on allegations that he made racist and sexist comments to postgrad students.
I write with regards to your front-page article with my named photograph and headlines “sexist language, derogatory comments by renowned surgeon” followed by grossly incorrect text which I regard as unfortunate, defamatory and actionable.
When you emailed me on Wednesday, 20 August, I confirmed that I had never used the term “black bitches” yet, despite this, you chose to publish this accusation. I also explained that I had never met nor had anything to do with the plastic surgery registrar in question, and only had peripheral knowledge of the issues around her. Notwithstanding this express explanation, you chose to misrepresent the facts and link me to them.
You never asked me about “clinic bitch” and chose instead to deliberately misreport that I used the term with reference to female trainees. Had you asked, I would have explained that, in January I made a joke on an internal roster of orthopaedic trainee role allocations. Dr Groenewald, a white male was unable to operate due to a wrist bone that would not heal. I therefore had to restrict him to outpatient duties. Now, for an orthopaedic surgeon, this is terrible, as we live to operate. As a friendly joke I annotated (non-union “clinic bitch”) under HIS name in the same vein that we loosely use the term “Life’s a bitch”. I intended no malice using the term in its well-recognised colloquial meaning of “an unpleasant task or scenario”, with non-union referring to the unhealed bone.
This term is not infrequently used in my world and in this context has no gender inference whatsoever. Realising this may have been misinterpreted, I proactively contacted all my staff, explaining the term and my intention. Dr Groenewald laughed about it and, along with many of the others, communicated that no offense was taken. Still concerned that I may have inadvertently offended my orthopaedic female staff and extremely sensitive in this regard, I asked a senior female consultant to discuss the issue with them as a group and was told there was no problem. That was the end of the matter in our department. I have not subsequently used the term and we focussed on doing what good we could in these difficult times.
Now some 7 months later, during which not 1 mention of the matter has been made, you have chosen to misreport the facts, use others totally out of context, damage not only my reputation but create problems for my medical family.
Regards
Professor Robert Dunn
HOD: Orthopaedic Surgery
* The Sunday Independent stands by its stories around serious allegations of racism in the Department of Surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital and the subsequent investigation into your unamusing “clinic bitch” email was confirmed by UCT’s Department of Transformation last Saturday.
While the vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng has not commented on the racism and sexism claims, the Dean in the Faculty of Health Sciences at UCT Prof Lionel Green-Thompson this week told staff the Deanery is appalled at the use of inappropriate language in a roster issued by the head of division: orthopaedics. “We will work with the relevant department to investigate the matter.”
The Sunday Independent is investigating further claims which have arisen since publication of the “black bitches” article.