Lee v. Hospital Authority, 04-12353. Non-Argument Calendar.
| Decision Date | 27 January 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-12353. Non-Argument Calendar.,04-12353. Non-Argument Calendar. |
| Citation | 397 F.3d 1327 |
| Parties | Jerry Jackson LEE, II, D.O., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HOSPITAL AUTHORITY, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit |
J. Hue Henry, J. Hue Henry, P.C., Athens, GA, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
James C. Whelchel, Whelchel, Carlton & Waller, LLP, Moultrie, GA, for Defendant-Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.
Before BLACK, BARKETT and GODBOLD, Circuit Judges.
Jerry Jackson Lee, a medical doctor, enjoyed staff privileges at a hospital operated by the Hospital Authority of Colquitt County, Georgia. The hospital required its staff to renew hospital privileges every two years. Dr. Lee's renewal application led to an investigation into his professional competency. He sued seeking injunctive relief and damages, alleging that the hospital failed to follow its bylaws concerning the renewal of his staff privileges. The district court granted summary judgment for the hospital. We affirm.
The hospital's medical staff reappointment application required that applicants disclose any prior suspensions of privileges or disciplinary action at any hospital. The form asked: "Have your privileges at any hospital ever been suspended, diminished, revoked, or not reviewed." Another question asked: "Have you ever been denied appointment, clinical privileges, renewal thereof or been subject to disciplinary action by any hospital or medical organization." Dr. Lee answered both of these questions in the negative.
Dr. D.W. Adcock, a retired physician employed as the hospital's Medical Director, initially reviewed Dr. Lee's application. Dr. Lee's negative answers to the two questions quoted above raised Dr. Adcock's suspicions. He was aware of an incident that had occurred at another hospital in Worth County, relating to Dr. Lee's performing a hysterectomy on a woman who was pregnant at the time. He recalled that the incident was well known in the Worth County community and that it had been reported in a newspaper. He also recalled that Dr. Lee had received some form of discipline for this incident. He wrote Dr. Patel, the chief-of-staff of the Baptist Hospital Worth County seeking information on Lee's staff privileges at that hospital. Also he requested that Dr. Lee meet with him "to discuss a staff matter." At that meeting Dr. Lee confirmed that he had performed a hysterectomy on a pregnant woman and that he had been suspended for a period of several days. He explained that the medical staff at the other hospital had told him the incident was a "non-event" and that he need not mention the matter in his application for reappointment at the Colquitt County hospital. In another letter to Dr. Adcock, Dr. Lee stated that he had been placed on a temporary suspension during the investigation of the incident at the Worth County hospital, but stated that the suspension had been "rescinded."
By a subsequent letter to Dr. Adcock, Dr. Patel described the Worth County hospital's response to the incident involving the hysterectomy as follows:
In May of 1999, Dr. Lee's clinical privileges were summarily suspended based on his care and treatment of a patient at Baptist Hospital Worth County. His suspension was lifted after a three-week period with the understanding that peer review activities, as well as a quality assurance review, were ongoing.
In July of 1999, Dr. Lee was placed on probation for a period of twelve months with mandatory consultation and proctoring of his GYN surgical cases. During this time, I was responsible for consulting with Dr. Lee and approving all his GYN surgical cases prior to surgery. I also conducted a prospective review of all of his surgical cases during this year.
Dr. Lee's probationary period ended in July of 2000 with the expectation that he will continue to institute and follow practices and procedures standard within his specialty and in line with his delineation of privileges.
The Medical Executive Committee of the Colquitt County hospital appointed an ad-hoc committee to investigate Dr. Lee's application. The ad-hoc committee referred charts of Dr. Lee's cases to an outside consultant for review. After review the consultant issued a written summary of his findings. He participated in a...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hooda v.
...the result of a report to the NPDB. See Lee v. Hosp. Auth. Of Colquitt Cnty., 353 F.Supp.2d 1255, 1265 (M.D. Ga. 2004), aff'd, 397 F.3d 1327 (11th Cir. 2005). Here, all of Plaintiff's claims arise from the Adverse Action Report filed with the NPDB. It is undisputed that Plaintiff informed S......
-
Desha v. La. State Bd. of Nursing
...tort law, where the damages claimed are solely the result of a report to the . . . [National Practitioner Data Bank]."), aff'd, 397 F.3d 1327 (11th Cir. 2005). In accordance with explicit federal law, even if a decision is based on flawed information, the adverse decision must itself be con......
-
Morris v. Emory Clinic, Inc.
...for a hospital's revocation of staff privileges without substantially complying with its bylaws. See O.C.G.A. § 51-1-6; Lee v. Hosp. Auth., 397 F.3d 1327 (11th Cir.2005). Morris however has not alleged a cause of action under Georgia state law against the Clinic for failure to comply with i......