Former Rothman orthopedic surgeon and Jefferson medical resident face off in civil trial over sexual assault allegations

Testimony before a Philadelphia jury will reveal the truth about a 2018 pool party that ended in sexual assault claims between a Thomas Jefferson University medical resident and a Rothman Orthopaedic Institute surgeon, their lawyers told jurors Monday as a civil case got underway.

John Abraham, 48, the party’s host and an orthopedic oncology surgeon, is suing then-resident Jessica Phillips for claims including libel, slander, fraud, and emotional distress. Phillips, 34, now an orthopedic surgeon on the West Coast, has countersued for gross negligence, assault and battery, defamation and other claims. Each side is seeking monetary damages.

“A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its shoes on,” Abraham’s lawyer, Lane Jubb Jr., said during opening arguments.

Jubb said Phillips lied when she alleged that she was too drunk to consent to sex with Abraham after a pool party at his Main Line home. That lie, Jubb told jurors, snowballed into scores more that resulted in Abraham being forced out of Jefferson, and “catastrophic consequences on this man’s career, his reputation, and his life.”

Phillips’ lawyer, Stewart Ryan, in his opening arguments, told jurors that his client awoke in Abraham’s bed the day after the party. She didn’t recall how she got there. She was disoriented, in pain and covered in bruises.

“She woke up next to a man who had serious control over her future,” Ryan told jurors. “Use your common sense. You can’t have a liar without someone who is truthful.”

Prior to the trial’s start, Jubb asked Judge Ann Butchart to declare a mistrial, arguing that an article published Monday in The Inquirer made it impossible for jurors to draw a fair and impartial conclusion. After lawyers questioned jurors behind closed doors, Butchart allowed the trial to proceed.

The Inquirer article detailed how leadership at Rothman and Jefferson quietly handled the allegations, with outcomes that left both Abraham and Phillips saying they were wronged as the two institutions protected their own interests.

The events of the June 2018 party, which Abraham held each year at his Gladwyne home to thank medical residents and Jefferson’s operating room staff, sparked three separate investigations and three lawsuits. Abraham also filed legal action against Rothman for firing him last year for allegedly failing to meet his financial obligations, which he disputes.

Although Rothman and Jefferson are separate, the Philadelphia-based institutions are financially and academically linked. Some of Rothman’s leadership hold key positions at Jefferson, and Rothman’s doctors train Jefferson’s medical residents.

Abraham no longer works for Rothman Orthopaedic Institute and has started his own practice. He detailed his version of events in more than four hours of testimony Monday before a 13-member Common Pleas Court jury panel, made up of four men and nine women.

At the time of the alleged assault, Abraham was a professor and attending physician at Jefferson. He made partner at Rothman at age 40 in 2015 and started Rothman’s orthopedic oncology division. Phillips was near the end of her second year of a five-year residency program in orthopedic surgery. She would need to rotate on a hospital unit that Abraham ran for eight weeks to achieve her dream of becoming an orthopedic surgeon.

Police in Lower Merion Township opened a criminal investigation in July 2018 after Phillips accused Abraham of raping her. Police and Montgomery County prosecutors closed the case about four months later without charges. “No one saw any illegal behavior on the part of the suspect,” the police report said.

On Monday, Abraham cried at times on the stand as he described the impact of Phillips’ accusations. He said the only thing he did wrong was have sex with a medical resident, which he acknowledged was unethical.

“It was devastating to me,” Abraham told jurors, adding that he thought of suicide. “I spent most nights on the floor, crying. It just wasn’t true.”

Ryan, Phillips’ lawyer, pointed out inconsistencies between Abraham’s testimony Monday and his previous court deposition. As Abraham testified, Phillips’ husband, Reid Phillips, also a party in the case, held his wife’s hand and put his arm around her in an effort to comfort her.

The trial is expected to continue Tuesday and last through the week.

» READ MORE: How Jefferson and Rothman dealt with an alleged sexual assault involving an orthopedic surgeon and a medical resident