Male Nurse Says Order Not To Treat Muslim Female Patients Was Sex Discrimination

The Dearborn Patch today follows up on a report last month by the Detroit News on a federal sex discrimination lawsuit against the city of Dearborn, Michigan filed by a male nurse who was fired from the city's health department. Nurse John Benitez Jr. was told by his female supervisor not to treat women wearing Muslim headscarves because their male family members did not want a male treating female patients. However Benitez disregarded this instruction when a doctor told him to treat a female patient. Benitez was subsequently fired. The suit, filed last month, claims his firing violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act because it was motivated in part by his gender.