Dr. Robert Johnson, an 85 year old physician from Lancaster, California sued the California Department of Corrections for age discrimination, harassment and retaliation in violation of California's Fair Employment and Housing Act when he was 81 years old. A California Superior Court Jury Awarded him Twenty Million Dollars.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light
-Dylan Thomas
He received an award of $1.6 Million Dollars in economic damages and $18 Million Dollars for emotional pain and suffering. Dr. Roberts was the Chief Medical Officer of a state prision in Lancaster, California. He was forced to retire in 2001 and reported by the State to the California Board of Medical Examiners for an investigation based on an allegation that his memory loss impaired his work. One prison official told him " Johnson, you are over 80 years old, why are you still working." He was also subjected to a battery of fitness and mental examinations and tests which he apparently passed with flying colors. One official said that he had "organic brain syndrome" and suggested that the State's doctors try to find it. His reasonable working life expectancy was presented as 96. One of his parents lived to the age of 112.
The California Department of Corrections vowed to appeal asserting that the requirement to undergo fitness test and asking the medical board to investigate his mental status did not equate to hostile action. Dr. Robert's success underscores the point that the effect of age on the performance of a professional is a relative thing. It is dangerous to assume that age alone renders a person incompetent or incapicated. While it is possible that some might attribute this to be the result of one of those runaway California jurys, there is perhaps a larger lession here that with the aging of the population, many of those at retirement age have no interest in or plans to stop working. Insensitivity to the need to measure and respect the capacity and performance of an individual on a case by case basis may be dangerousl, particularly if one uses the apparently heavy fisted approach of the California Department of Corrections.
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