A physician assistant who spent around $30,000 to relocate her family for a new job at a controversial Texas hospital claims she was betrayed by the medical facility when it pulled the opportunity just hours after giving her a start date.
Mojgan Pedram was ready to start a new chapter with Texas Children’s Hospital after working as a health care pro in a California emergency room when excitement turned into despair.
She accepted the job in April, but was told by the Houston hospital the following month it no longer existed because of a hiring freeze that left her shocked.
“It was for sure a betrayal,” she told The Post Tuesday. “They just left me with no explanation, with nothing. They just, like, wanted me to be here, and then they said, ‘OK, bye.’”
Pedram said she went for a final health screening on the morning of May 31 and was then given a start date for mid-June by a hospital worker.
But the same day, just hours later, she got a phone call from another staffer that brought devastating news.
A superior told her the new job would be on pause for months or even a year because the hospital was dealing with financial troubles, Pedram said.
“I relocated based on this job offer and then as soon as I was here, it was gone,” she said. “They just left me up in the air, me and my family with no income.”
Pedram said she spent between $20,000 and $30,000 in moving costs, but there were other costs that also added up, including breaking her lease in California and plane tickets to reach Texas.
Pedram’s 12-year-old son was also forced to move to a new area away from all of his friends and middle school.
“When he found out about all this, he was more upset,” she recalled. “He said, ‘We moved and I lost all my friends and my old school because of what.’”
A lawsuit filed on July 29 is demanding at least $400,000.
Pedram, who has been out of work for three months, would have earned around $225,000 annually, per her lawsuit. She expects to start a new job in September.
Her lawyer, Jacob Scholl, told The Post that Texas Children’s Hospital was aware of the massive effort Pedram was making to take the job, calling it “disgusting” that the medical institution hasn’t apologized to his client.
The lawsuit claims the hospital knew or should have known about the hiring freeze as early as March and should have informed Pedran back then.
Scholl argued she completed every hurdle and still ended up without a job.
“What makes this case extraordinary is that they knew that she was moving, they knew she was quitting her job, they knew she had to take her child out of school … they knew she had to relocate,” he said.
“They were texting her and emailing her through the entire process so it’s not like she was down the road … she completely uprooted her life and they knew about it.”
An email to Texas Children’s Hospital seeking comment was not returned Tuesday night.
The hospital slashed 5% of its 20,000-person workforce this week due to multiple factors, including lower patient volume, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Texas Children’s Hospital was under fire earlier this year over allegations the nation’s largest children’s health care facility provided gender-affirming care to minors despite a state law outlawing the practice.