Apr. 20—An Iowa physician is suing Mahaska Health Partnership for discrimination, alleging she and other female physicians were fired by hospital administrators for not sharing their religious beliefs and political opinions, court documents say.

In her lawsuit, Dr. Amanda Moreno alleges she has been "harassed, belittled, reprimanded, humiliated, excluded, terminated, and retaliated against all because she is a woman and she is atheist" while working as an emergency room physician at Mahaska Health Hospital.

Moreno is suing Mahaska Health Partnership and names as defendants hospital CEO Kevin DeRonde, emergency room physician and medical director Dr. David Cornelder, chief medical officer Dr. Timothy Breon, and as well as the hospital's board of trustee members including David Langkamp, Amber Coffey, Greg Gordy and Marsha Riordan.

Mahaska Health Partnership has acknowledged the Herald's request for comment but has not yet done so.

Moreno worked for the hospital as an emergency room physician for eight years, beginning in February 2013. DeRonde was appointed CEO of the hospital in February 2018.

In her lawsuit, Moreno alleges Mahaska Health Partnership and its administration, including DeRonde, Cornelder and Breon, "have a history of taking discriminatory acts against female employees and those that do not share their religious faith and political views" and that they had a goal to "replace the current female employees with male employees who share their religious beliefs and political opinions."

The lawsuit alleges DeRonde and Breon often spoke about religion and "pushed their religious ideas and practices on to employees," and that their religious beliefs informed their political ideology. It also says DeRonde and Breon would "testify" at executive team member meetings and speak with employees and patients about religion. During one of the meetings, they allegedly told the entire executive team that they were "chosen by the hand of God" to lead the hospital.

Additionally, the lawsuit says DeRonde and Breon allegedly created a PowerPoint presentation about why the attending members needed to vote for former President Donald Trump, "a political partisan consistent with their religious beliefs." It also alleges Breon has insisted on praying with patients, two of whom complained to Moreno.

In March 2020, Cornelder was hired with the intent to "provide some leadership" and "fix" the hospital's emergency department after Dr. Amy Montgomery, then serving as the director of the emergency department, resigned during negotiations to renew her contract with MHP. However, Moreno says she was unaware of any concerns the administration had with the emergency department at that time, according to the lawsuit.

Moreno later asked DeRonde and Breon to conduct a performance evaluation so she could receive feedback on her performance, but was denied. DeRonde and Breon also did not provide an annual performance evaluation, even though it was required in Moreno's contract, court documents say.

On Oct. 1, 2021, Moreno, along with two other female physicians who worked in the emergency department, received termination notices that stated their employment contract would end Dec. 31, 2021. Moreno also claims in the lawsuit that another female physician, who was planning on retiring, was also "railroaded into declaring a firm retirement date."

At that time, five of the six emergency department physicians at the hospital were female. Cornelder, the only male physician and newest hire in the department, did not receive a termination notice, the lawsuit says.

DeRonde, Cornelder and Breon then hired Dr. Chris Martin, a male general surgeon, to replace Moreno and the other female physicians, even though he had no emergency room experience. Moreno made her concerns known to DeRonde, stating that she believed Martin "was unqualified to be an emergency room physician and posed a serious danger to patients," the lawsuit says.

Prior to DeRonde informing the Board of Trustees of the terminations of Moreno and the other female physicians, Moreno alleges DeRonde had already obtained contracts to replace them, according to court documents.

After receiving community backlash, the lawsuit alleges the Board of Trustees called on DeRonde to explain the mass firing of female emergency room physicians and why new hires did not seem to have the appropriate qualifications at a meeting on Oct. 7, 2021. There were also concerns that DeRonde was having an intimate relationship with another employee and had hired his wife for a position she was not qualified for.

DeRonde submitted his resignation before the meeting, which the board accepted. However, DeRonde was later reinstated as CEO after a petition was circulated throughout the community by Breon and Langkamp, which pushed for DeRonde's reinstatement. Langkamp, Coffey, Gordy and Riordan voted to reinstate DeRonde, the lawsuit says.

Board members Jim Hansen, Margaret Ratcliff and Amy McGriff resigned in light of DeRonde's reinstatement, in which one resignation letter mentioned "the uncovering of disturbing abuses within the organization," court documents say.

Emily Hawk is the associate editor of the Ottumwa Courier and the Oskaloosa Herald. She can be reached at ehawk@oskyherald.com.