A disciplinary action was initiated by the president of the hospital’s medical staff against a surgeon who would later become my client. The complaint was that the surgeon inappropriately collected a cash payment from an uninsured patient at the point of service in the hospital, as opposed to having his office invoice and collect payment from the patient. The medical staff felt this was both unorthodox, and contra to the hospital’s core values. A three-member ad hoc investigation committee, which included one of the surgeon’s competitors, recommended that the surgeon be disciplined (i.e., lose his privileges).The surgeon was then informed that he also was not going to be recommended for reappointment to the faculty for the coming academic year. However, the surgeon was not up for academic reappointment until the following year. Moreover, the surgeon had an unblemished faculty record. The dilemma, how to avoid: 1) losing his privileges, 2) removal from the faculty, and 3) National Practitioner Data Bank reporting? At this point I was retained by the surgeon. How did I prevent all of the foregoing three things from happening to my client? You will have to contact me for the free of charge answer!
I recently represented a physician in a noteworthy peer review case at an academic medical center. A complaint was initiated by the president of the medical staff against a surgeon, who would later become my client. The complaint was that the surgeon inappropriately collected cash payment from an uninsured patient at the point of service…