San Antonio orthopedic surgeon David Fox has been sued by a nurse Lilibeth Peña, who alleges he put her hands on her neck in a “choking/strangling manner” in February 2025. Fox is shown as he records notes after performing a knee replacement surgery in 2019.
San Antonio Express-News file photo
A San Antonio nurse has sued an orthopedic surgeon after the Texas Medical Board found he acted unprofessionally by putting his hands around her neck during a heated conversation.
Lilibeth Peña alleges Dr. David Fox grabbed her neck, twisted her head upward and pushed her into an equipment cart during a dispute over a medication delay in an operating room at Northeast Baptist Hospital in February 2025.
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The suit also names as a defendant Baptist Health System, which Peña alleges ignored warning signs about Fox’s behavior and failed to protect employees.
The lawsuit follows a Texas Medical Board investigation that found Fox acted unprofessionally when he “mimicked strangulation” by putting his hands around Peña’s neck. The board issued a nondisciplinary remedial plan requiring Fox to complete training on communication with staff, leadership and interpersonal skills.
Fox neither admitted nor denied the board’s findings and agreed to settle the matter to avoid the cost, expense and uncertainty of litigation, according to the agreement.
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A representative for Fox said he had no comment. Baptist Health System did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
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At the time of the incident, Peña held the position of interim administrative director of surgical services at Northeast Baptist.
The lawsuit says Fox became upset after learning a preoperative medication was unavailable because an automated dispensing machine was out of stock. Another nurse retrieved the medication from a different machine, resulting in a delay of less than 10 minutes.
According to the lawsuit, Peña then explained what had happened to Fox outside the operating room. When she told him there was little she could do because the pharmacy was outside her department, Fox became increasingly angry, the suit says.
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The lawsuit alleges Fox placed his hand around Peña’s neck “in a choking/strangling manner,” yanked her chin upward and told her she should confront the pharmacy director the same way before pushing her into an equipment cart.
A nurse who witnessed the encounter told Fox, “You need to keep your hands to yourself,” according to the lawsuit.
Peña left the hospital in tears and later reported the incident to the hospital’s ethics and compliance office as well as the medical board, the suit says.
She says Northeast Baptist later passed her over for promotion to permanent administrative director of surgical services and instead offered her the option of working around Fox or transferring to another department. Peña says she later resigned because she no longer felt safe around Fox.
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According to the complaint, Fox had a history of hostile behavior toward operating room staff, but hospital administrators failed to act despite prior complaints. Employees also feared retaliation if they reported his conduct.
“Our lawsuit asks whether the hospital knew of earlier behavior concerns, whether it did enough to protect its staff and whether Ms. Peña was treated adversely after reporting what happened,” Houston attorney Stephen A. Barnes said.
The lawsuit asserts negligence and gross negligence claims against the defendants and seeks more than $1 million in damages, including exemplary damages.
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Under the medical board’s remedial plan issued in December, Fox was ordered to complete four hours of continuing medical education on communication with staff, with a focus on leadership, power dynamics and interpersonal skills. He also was required to pay $500 to cover the cost of administering the remedial plan.
The board’s online physician profile lists Fox as holding hospital privileges at Northeast Baptist.
The suit was filed Monday in state District Court in San Antonio.