Karl Simon

 

As of September 2021, the Texas Medical Board listed Simon as having a Physician’s Assistant (PA), license number 06580, issued in February 2010 and expiring in February 2022.

The Texas Medical Board also indicated that Simon graduated from the University of Texas (UT) Medical Branch in 2009. Simon has also held certification with the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants, license number 1088804, since November 25, 2009.

Spreading Racism and Anti-Semitism

Simon appeared in a video bearing the date May 17, 2019, responding to questions, where he admitted [00:02:09] to sending racist, anti-semitic and sexist text messages, including [00:00:14] negative statements about children with Down’s Syndrome, which Simon admitted [00:00:28] was “inappropriate.”

 

During the video, Simon complied [00:00:39] with a request to read out several of the messages, including“Whitey. The advantages of being a white man can never be matched. All hail whitey. Christian is like the Guatemalans of Hispanic people, bottom feeders. ”

Other text messages that Simon allegedly sent [00:01:20] from his phone were read out [00:01:28] to Simon by the interviewer, including [00:01:28]: “Old Jewish women with cancer are my Memorial City specialty. Fat Black girls are too.”

The texts read out included multiple derogatory references to texting [00:01:38] “Ni**er, such as the sentence saying [00:01:40] “Did you cut a check for ni**er Chris Smith?”

Simon also tacitly admitted [00:02:04] to sending [00:01:48] the text: “Golf and baseball are rich white man’s and poor latinos sport. Hoops are for ni**ers and white guys who don’t have enough eye-hand coordination to hit a baseball or golf ball.”

Simon further said [00:04:43] that when he used the term “Canadians” in a pejorative way, he was “likely” referring to African Americans. 

Simon also tacitly admitted that he sent a text message that said [00:05:06]; “I want to be on the boat right now. Beautiful Saturday like today and I’m in the fu**ing ER [Emergency Room] taking care of Mexicans and ‘Canadians’.”

The video later displayed [00:13:36] screenshots of the text messages that Simon allegedly sent, including: “F**king jews,” “God damn jew” and “Haha yep, lyin cheating jew.”

Simon also allegedly texted [00:14:20]: “So many black persons here it’s terrible,” as well as [00:14:26] “Man there are a lot of ni**ers here.”

The video also played some audio with Simon’s voice, including [00:14:57] “I like using my ni**er middle finger.”

Other audio of Simon, on the video, said [00:15:03]: “Help me, I’ve been working at Memorial Hermann Southwest too long, my jeans are getting baggier and I wear em around my upper thighs with my weiner hanging out of my boxers, I wear a flat brim hat with the tag still on it and I smell like black and mild cigarillos and old weed. Get me out of that place.”

On the video, Simon stated [00:05:34] that among his supervising Doctors were Dr. Mike Heyman and Dr. Jordan Smith, and Simon claimed [00:06:14] that they used the same kind of terminology that he did.

On August 10, 2019, a non-profit organization, the National Medical Malpractice Advocacy Association (NMMAA), posted to its Facebook page a letter it had submitted the day before to Texas State Commissioner Rodney Ellis.

The NMMAA’s letter condemned Simon for “his involvement in anti-Semitic racist comments while on his job in the ER of Memorial Hermann Hospital” and called for “the appropriate local, state and federal agencies to investigate into these allegations.”

On August 13, 2019, TeamHealth CEO, Leif Murphy, released a statement that said: “I would like to address a disturbing video circulating on social media where a former TeamHealth physician assistant admits to a series of intolerable and racist comments. It is important to know this individual’s employment with TeamHealth was terminated immediately upon our learning of this video…” 

On that same day, Hermann Health CEO, Chuck Stokes, released a statement posted to Memorial Hermann Hospital’s Facebook page, condemning the “racist and inappropriate comments.” Stokes stated that “the physician assistant in the video” is “no longer seeing patients at any Memorial Hermann facility.”

On September 6, 2019, TeamHealth released a statement that said: “We want to reaffirm that the type of offensive behavior expressed by Karl Anthony Simon is the antithesis of TeamHealth’s values and culture. Mr. Simon should have been terminated more swiftly for his disturbing speech.”

Physician Assistant Licensure

In the video, Simon confirmed [00:07:26] that he had a Physician Assistant license issued by the Texas Medical Board and was “nationally certified.”

As of January 9, 2020, the Texas Medical Board indicated that no disciplinary action had been taken against Simon, and his Physician Assistant license was still valid, to be renewed in February 2020.