42 U.S.C. § 1981 prohibits discrimination affecting citizens rights to make contracts. In the credentialing field, § 1981 has been used to circumvent the immunities provided by the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) because HCQIA provides an express exception stating that it doesn’t apply to actions brought pursuant to Section 1981. The premise is … Continue Reading
Sheikh v. Grant Regional Health Center is another case in a growing body of evidence that courts are granting less leeway and protection to hospitals which abuse the HCQIA immunity and reporting protections. This is not a final decision awarding damages! It is only a decision by a Wisconsin federal district court rejecting the hospital’s motion … Continue Reading
A Federal Court denied prevailing party attorneys’ fees to a hospital in a Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) proceeding and allowed the hospital to design its own due process in Fox v. Good Samaritan Hospital. The denial of the attorneys’ fees is basically based upon laches and estoppel theory, because the hospital waited six … Continue Reading
In Pierson v. Orlando Health, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida granted a motion for summary judgment for the hospital on the basis that the hospital was immune from any liability from damages under the immunity provisions of the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA). Dr. Pierson had argued that the … Continue Reading
The Connecticut Supreme Court issued an interesting decision in the case of Harris v. Bradley Memorial Hospital & Health Center Inc. in May of 2010, which was precipitated by the summary suspension of Dr. Harris. Not only did it overturn the trial court’s grant of judgment notwithstanding the verdict in favor of the hospital, after a … Continue Reading
In Badri v. Huron Hospital, which is part of the Cleveland Clinic Health System, the District Court for the Northern District of Ohio granted summary judgment to the defendant hospital in which Dr. Badri was alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the typical emotional distress, tortuous interference, defamation and … Continue Reading
The case of Cowell v. Good Samaritan Community Health Care, a state court case in Washington, provides guidance on two of the four elements of HCQIA immunity, i.e. that the action was reasonably taken in the furtherance of quality health care and the necessary substance to establish a reasonable investigation. Dr. Cowell raised an unusual … Continue Reading
In Chudacoff vs. UniversityMedicalCenter of Southern Nevada, et al., the United States District Court for the District of Nevada granted partial summary judgment on behalf of Richard M. Chudacoff, M.D., enjoining University Medical Center from reporting Dr. Chudacoff to the National Practitioner Data Bank, and granted summary judgment on Dr. Chudacoff’s behalf denying immunity under … Continue Reading
