Navy: Portsmouth doctor led with fear, intimidation

PORTSMOUTH

It reads like a scene from the movie "Horrible Bosses."

A Navy doctor who headed a medical command in Portsmouth for two years was found to have abused his authority by "leading with fear, intimidation, and retribution through tyrannical and capricious conduct," resulting in a hostile work environment.

Capt. Bruce Cohen regularly berated his subordinates in public, threatened them and presided over a workplace infused with mistrust and fear, numerous witnesses said.

Once, Cohen was reported to have said he was ready to behead a subordinate who had displeased him. On other occasions, he allegedly said of various staffers, "Fire them all, I'm sick of it" and "Line them up and shoot them."

Despite these findings, the Navy awarded Cohen the Legion of Merit - the seventh-highest decoration in the hierarchy of military honors, ranking above the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart - for "exceptionally meritorious conduct" during his tenure as commanding officer of the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health Center from May 2009 to May 2011.

Housed at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center, the command's job is to ensure mission readiness through disease prevention and health promotion.

The allegations against Cohen were substantiated in December 2010 by investigators for the Navy's medical inspector general. Their report was provided to The Virginian-Pilot in response to an open-records request.

Cohen denied making intimidating or belittling comments about his subordinates. "No, I am not a disciplinarian," he told investigators. "It was not in my nature to 'belittle.' I would talk with them privately." He merely expected his staff to be accountable, he said.

He declined a request for comment.

The investigators recommended that the Navy take "appropriate corrective action" against Cohen.

Cohen is now assigned to the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. Hugh Cox, a spokesman for the medical command, said the transfer was a regularly scheduled rotation.

Capt. Cappy Surette, a spokesman for the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, said Cohen was counseled about his management style and opportunities for improvement.

Asked how Cohen was entitled to the Legion of Merit, Surette said all facets of his performance during his tour in Portsmouth were taken into consideration.

Surette said Cohen led an internal reorganization that resulted in a new business plan for the command; spearheaded the development of a five-year, $35 million support system for ill and wounded service members; established a system for dealing with public health emergencies such as a flu pandemic; and secured funding that led to the command being designated a center for toxicological analysis of emerging contaminants.

The investigation of Cohen's management style was prompted by six anonymous and confidential complaints to a Navy hotline.

Cohen was an "intimidator and likes to frighten people and berate them," one civilian employee wrote.

Another complainant described a command climate "charged with mistrust and fear."

"Please help, we are all afraid and need relief," a third wrote.

The investigators found more detailed complaints in a September 2010 command climate survey.

Cohen "has managed to bring this command to a new low," one 20-year staffer wrote. "There is intense abuse of authority."

Another said inconsistent behavior by Cohen had infused the workplace with fear: "I feel like a dog; I don't know if I am going to get the pat on the head or the newspaper whack on my nose - others feel the same way."

Another compared Cohen to Dr. Jekyll, saying he asserted his power by repeatedly creating an artificial "crisis du jour," keeping subordinates off kilter with his ever-changing demands.

Still another called the workplace "the most dysfunctional command suite I've ever encountered" and said morale and productivity had suffered.

Maybe Cohen is a good doctor, but he is not a good leader, one staffer wrote, calling him "a power hungry authoritarian."

The result was "a total systems failure at the command suite level," another said. "We're bleeding out down here."

Cohen has a medical degree from St. George's University in the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, according to a Navy online biography. He is board-certified in family practice, ambulatory care medicine, undersea medicine and clinical hyperbaric medicine.

The command climate survey contained some positive comments about Cohen, the investigators wrote. But more than half of the command's leadership interviewed voiced concerns about abuse of authority and a hostile work environment.

Bill Sizemore, 757-446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com