By David Sommer, Tampa Tribune, Fla.
Dec. 8–Nine cardiologists who in effect were fired by a west Pasco County hospital filed separate lawsuits Thursday alleging industry giant HCA Inc. defamed their good names and falsely led the public to believe they were bad doctors.
The heart doctors contend their careers were derailed when the board of trustees at Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point wrongfully suspended them and recommended revoking their privileges to admit and treat patients in December 2004.
Also, the cardiologists allege their reputations were damaged by false and defamatory statements made by a spokesman for the medical center, which is owned by Hospital Corporation of America.
“A summary suspension of hospital privileges or an adverse recommendation for revocation of privileges are considered by the medical community to be the ‘death penalty’ to a physician’s practice and career,” the lawsuits state.
“The suspended physician typically will be severely limited in his professional options. Correspondingly, such adverse events will result in great reductions in the physician’s earnings and earning capacity,” the complaints state.
The nine lawsuits, filed in Pinellas County Circuit Court by lawyers Barry Cohen of Tampa and Anthony Leon of Tarpon Springs, are identical except for the named plaintiffs, said Kevin Kalwary, a spokesman for Cohen’s firm.
The nine doctors, all interventional cardiologists who perform heart surgery, are Sudhir Agarwal, Gopal Chalavarya, Charles Saniour, Adel Eldin, Mahmoud Nimer, Dipak Parekh, Thomas Mathews, Joseph Idicula and Rene “Rudy” Kunhardt.
Named as defendants are HCA Inc., HCA Health Services of Florida, Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point, and HCA executives J. Daniel Miller and David R. Williams.
Kurt Conover, the Bayonet Point spokesman accused of defaming the doctors, said HCA does not comment on pending lawsuits. A call to the company’s headquarters in Tennessee was not returned late Thursday afternoon.
According to the lawsuits, Conover was quoted in news accounts as saying that a review of the nine doctors “identified several opportunities for improvement” and that they did not follow accepted medical procedures.
Cohen said in a written statement that the reason the doctors were banned from the Hudson area hospital was that they were making medical decisions that “resulted in lower profits to the hospital than alternative treatments would provide.”
“Because of a marked shortfall in bypass surgeries compared to the number of angioplasties and the resulting loss of revenue, HCA initiated a review of the interventional cardiology program” that resulted in the nine suspensions, the lawsuit states.
Cohen said the lawsuits aim to restore his clients’ self-respect so that “they and their families will no longer be humiliated by HCA’s actions.”
Reporter David Sommer can be reached at [email protected] or (727) 815-1087.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Tampa Tribune, Fla.
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