Sex at UCLA!?

Dude! How late is everyone to this party? It seems everyone dropped the ball on a sex scandal within UCLA’s medical school psychiatry department.

Haven’t heard about it? Neither have I, until I read this story. Read closely, it gets complicated:

The harassment action was brought by Dr. David Martorano, a former opera singer and the son of a psychiatrist who did his residency at UCLA — and, according to testimony, found the time to zip around Malibu in a two-seater going on dates and attending a private party thrown by adult entertainment companies.

In his suit, Martorano claims he and his former supervisor, Dr. Heather Krell, had a liaison. He was all set to become chief resident of Krell’s clinic. But the job was taken away from him after he broke off the affair, and rumors of it began to circulate, Martorano claims. He also contends that Krell smeared his reputation and painted him as a liar by claiming no affair ever took place.

Krell countersued Martorano for libel and slander. Her lawyer, Donald Garrard, claims Martorano is “obsessed with sex” and that “from the moment he arrived at UCLA, what was most important to him was to be known as a cocksman.” Martorano made up the story of sex with Dr. Krell to help him seduce another attending physician at UCLA, Krell’s lawyer claimed. Martorano also had an affair with a third psychiatrist in the department. According to court papers, this liaison is not in dispute, and the woman is expected to testify under a code name.

Krell, meanwhile, has filed a separate sexual harassment suit against UCLA, alleging that she was subjected to an onslaught of “sexual comments and sexually degrading and demeaning behavior and gestures” from yet another psychiatrist at UCLA, Dr. Andrew Leuchter. She also claims that department administrators retaliated against her when she complained of the abuse. UCLA disputes the allegations. That case is set to go to trial next fall.

The new allegations come on the heels of a $2.9-million sexual harassment and discrimination verdict against UCLA brought by another psychiatrist in the department.

Did you get all that? The rest of the story also adds that the trial started this month! How did we miss this? That means pretty much everyone missed the filing of this lawsuit and the various resultant filings that always ensue when someone sues a huge entity like UCLA.

Honestly, I’m really really surprised this hasn’t caught the attention of our local tabloid TV. It’s sweeps, and this is a made-for-sweeps story. Man, even the Daily Bruin dropped the ball. As an aside, I’d be really interested in how Jessica Garrison got tipped to this story, since it seems UCLA has been pretty successful at keeping it quiet.

2 thoughts on “Sex at UCLA!?

  1. Dr. David Martorano seems like a real wack job. I can’t believe that he is treating patients! Someone should report him to the medical board and get this story to the papers!!

  2. I am appalled at Dr. Martorano’s behaviour. He has embarrassed his entire profession and he should consider taking a leave of absence before treating other patients.

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