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Mercy Health fired orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ian Walton because he is Jewish, a U.S. federal lawsuit alleges.
The Ohio network told Walton on November 1, 2023, less than four weeks after the Hamas-led October 7 massacre, that his seven years there were ending.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought the case against Mercy Health and its parent company, Bon Secours Mercy Health, for discrimination based on religion and ancestry.
According to the complaint, Walton exceeded his productivity targets, never received documented discipline, and appeared on Mercy’s website as a leading specialist.
Photographs in his office showed relatives wearing kippahs and prayer shawls, and staff remarked on them. The agency contends that colleagues blamed Jews for conflicts around the world and treated Walton as though he owed them explanations for Israel’s actions. His background, they suggested, left him unable to “form an independent opinion.”
“If you’re Jewish, then you must also be smart and should be able to explain why Jews supposedly can’t make peace with their neighbors,” they told him, the filing states.
After October 7th, the complaint says, the remarks multiplied and grew more overt. It cites workplace statements pinning the Hamas attack on “the Jews,” faulting “the Jews” for what was happening in Gaza, and dismissing any reason to care about the Israeli hostages held by Palestinian terrorists. Walton was pressed repeatedly on whether he was religiously observant and even whether he had played a role in the war.
The EEOC says he was also shut out of surgical-scheduling meetings, and his operating room hours were cut without anyone telling him. When he asked why he was being let go, he was told it had nothing to do with his performance. Later requests for an explanation drew only “No reason.”
Mercy still needed an orthopedic surgeon, the EEOC argues. The network kept Walton working through January 2024, looked for a replacement, and handed his patients to non-Jewish doctors.
Bon Secours Mercy Health declined to address the allegations, citing the pending litigation.
“Antisemitism has no place in the American workplace,” EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said, vowing that the agency “will not hesitate to file lawsuits to protect Jewish workers.”
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