Judge tosses some parts of former NUMC CEO Megan Ryan's gender bias suit

A judge last week tossed major parts of a lawsuit filed by former Nassau University Medical Center CEO Megan Ryan against the state-appointed leaders who fired her for cause last year from the cash-strapped public hospital, court papers show.

State Supreme Court Justice Jerome Murphy in a June 2 decision dismissed Ryan's allegations of breach of contract, gender-based pay discrimination and defamation against  Nassau Health Care Corporation, the public-benefit corporation that runs NUMC. The decision comes as the state attorney general has launched a probe into possible financial wrongdoings at Nassau County's only safety-net health system, which cares for some of the poorest patients in the region.

The judge asked for more information on the remaining parts of Ryan's litigation.

Messages left for Ryan's attorneys were not returned Tuesday. No appeal has been filed, according to an online court docket.

Ryan, who worked at NUMC for about a decade, rose through the ranks to become general counsel and then CEO in 2024 before her resignation last year turned into a firing "for cause" after it was discovered she authorized more than $1 million in what officials deemed improper termination pay to herself and other departing executives.

Ryan, both in the lawsuit and in previous statements to Newsday, said she believes she was wrongfully terminated, contractually entitled to separation pay and underpaid. She said her $550,000 salary was lower than that of other CEOs because she is a woman.

She also alleged articles that appeared in Newsday were planted by an administration with a political vendetta against her, according to the lawsuit.

Last year, she and about a dozen other executives left NUMC after Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and state lawmakers through the budget process reconfigured the governing board to take the majority of appointees away from County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican. The move to change the leadership and day-to-day management of the institution was necessary, Hochul said, to stabilize its finances after racking up more than $1.4 billion in debt.

Also named as defendants in the suit were Dr. Richard Becker, the hospital's former interim president; Stuart Rabinowitz, former chairman of the NHCC board of directors; and Richard Kessel, in his capacity as the former chairman of the Nassau Interim Financial Authority, the state-appointed fiscal panel that oversees and has audited the hospital’s finances. Kessel, who was involved in leadership changes that resulted in Ryan's departure, was appointed chairman of the NHCC board earlier this week.

"I'm delighted that the courts dismissed most of the claims, certainly the ones that were personal. I think it's time for the hospital to move forward and come back from this dark period to a brighter and more transparent period as we go forward," Kessel said Tuesday.

NHCC, which relies on federal and state Medicaid and Medicare funding, operates the 530-bed East Meadow hospital, the A. Holly Patterson nursing home, inmate care at the county jail and several community health centers.

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.