Poliner v. Texas Health Systems

• Decision Date: 23 July 2008
• Docket Number: No. 06-11235.,06-11235.
• Citation: 537 F.3d 368
• Parties: Lawrence R. POLINER, M.D.; Lawrence R. Poliner, M.D., P.A., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. TEXAS HEALTH SYSTEMS, a Texas Non-Profit Corporation, doing business as Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas; James Knochel, M.D., Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

537 F.3d 368

Lawrence R. POLINER, M.D.; Lawrence R. Poliner, M.D., P.A., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. TEXAS HEALTH SYSTEMS, a Texas Non-Profit Corporation, doing business as Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas; James Knochel, M.D., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 06-11235.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

July 23, 2008.

Jeffrey Scott Levinger (argued), Hankinson Levinger, LLP, Michael A. Logan, Karin M. Zaner, Kane, Russell, Coleman & Logan, Dallas, TX, for Plaintiffs-Appellees.

Thomas S. Leatherbury (argued), Vinson & Elkins, Lea F. Courington, Curran Tomko Tarski, Dallas, TX, for Defendants-Appellants.

Luther T. Munford, Phelps Dunbar, Jackson, MS, Andrew Layton Schlafly, Far Hills, NJ, for Amici Curiae.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Before KING, HIGGINBOTHAM and SOUTHWICK, Circuit Judges.

PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:

This appeal brings to us a judgment awarding some $33 million, including prejudgment interest, against a major hospital and leading physician for alleged defamations. As we will explain, this extraordinary judgment rests on limited restrictions of Dr. Lawrence Poliner's privileges at Presbyterian Hospital over a period of fewer than twenty-nine days to investigate concerns involving his handling of several patients. This peer review, which was headed by Dr. James Knochel, led to a suspension of Poliner's cardiac catheterization lab and echocardiography privileges that lasted approximately five months. Poliner sued Knochel, Presbyterian, and other doctors involved in the peer review alleging various federal and state law violations. The district court found that the suspension enjoyed immunity from money damages under the federal Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA),¹ and granted a partial summary judgment. But the court concluded that whether the temporary restrictions of privileges during the investigation enjoyed immunity from money damages presented questions for a jury.

The case proceeded to trial solely on the temporary restrictions of privileges. The jury found for Poliner on his defamation claims.² Poliner was able to offer evidence at trial of actual loss of income of about $10,000—but was awarded more than $90 million in defamation damages, nearly all for mental anguish and injury to career. The jury also awarded $110 million in punitive damages. The district court ordered a remittitur of the damages and entered judgment against Defendants. We hold that Defendants are immune under the HCQIA from money damages for the temporary restrictions of Poliner's privileges. We reverse and render judgment for Defendants.

I. Facts and Proceedings Below

A.

On May 12, 1998, Patient 36 presented in Presbyterian's emergency room with chest pains, and he was referred to Dr. Lawrence Poliner, an interventional cardiologist who had a solo practice at Presbyterian Hospital. Diagnostic tests indicated that the patient was suffering from a heart attack, and that the patient's right coronary artery (RCA) was partially blocked. Poliner performed a procedure to open the artery. However, Poliner made a diagnostic mistake: the patient's left anterior descending artery (LAD) was completely blocked, and Poliner missed it. Another doctor, Dr. Tony Das, saw the LAD on a monitor in the control room. Poliner learned that he missed the LAD sometime after completing the procedure. Das spoke to him about the procedure and the LAD. Dr. Charles Levin, the director of the catheterization lab, heard that day that Poliner had performed an emergency procedure. He reviewed the patient's films, and then spoke with Poliner.

In an addendum to the chart, Poliner admitted that he missed the totally blocked LAD. He wrote that "[i]n reviewing the films, it is apparent that the left anterior descending coronary artery is totally occluded," and that "[a]t the time that this study was done and visualizing the anatomy in the laboratory from the video, this was not apparent, but it is obvious from reviewing the films." Poliner indicated that he might have treated the LAD before the RCA had he seen it.

Patient 36 also suffered post-procedure complications. The patient suffered internal bleeding and eventually went into shock, deteriorating to the point that a critical care specialist, Dr. Kenney Weinmeister, was brought in. Weinmeister testified that the patient was suffering from "severe metabolic acidosis," which "was due to what we call hypovolemia or essentially blood loss so that he didn't have enough fluid in his vessels to maintain blood pressure, and that was due to a retroperitoneal hemorrhage or bleeding." The patient was, in his words, "near respiratory failure." Weinmeister testified that, had he not intervened, the patient could have died within an hour. Poliner was in the ICU a number of times following the patient's procedure. There were problems contacting Poliner, although at trial there was testimony that he tried to call the ICU several times but he could not get through. Poliner also sent his wife, who is a nurse, over to check on the patient. As the patient's condition deteriorated in the afternoon, Poliner was not present. There was evidence at trial that he had another procedure scheduled that afternoon, but the time line is not entirely clear. Dr. John Harper, the chief of cardiology, was told about Patient 36 on May 12, and he reviewed the patient's chart and films.

Dr. James Knochel, the chairman of the Internal Medicine Department (IMD), learned about Patient 36 from Das and Weinmeister the next day, May 13.³ This, however, was not the first of Poliner's patients to come to Knochel's attention. Cardiology was part of the IMD, and four of Poliner's other patients — Patients 3, 9, 10, and 18—had been referred by the hospital's Clinical Risk Review Committee (CRRC) to Knochel and the Internal Medicine Advisory Committee (IMAC), which Knochel chaired, for review.⁴

Poliner's care of Patients 3,⁵ 9,⁶ 10,⁷ and 18⁸ involved different issues of varying degrees of concern, but in each case, his medical judgment had been questioned and, to some extent, criticized.⁹ Although Patient 10 had been reviewed and cleared by the IMAC in March 1997, the other cases were of recent vintage. The CRRC referred Patients 3 and 18 to the IMD in early 1998. Knochel asked a cardiologist to review each case, and the IMAC considered the cases at the end of April. The CRRC referred Patient 9 to the IMD in April. Levin completed a review of the case sometime before May 13, although the IMAC had yet to take up the case. It was against this backdrop that Knochel learned of Patient 36. Knochel consulted with Harper, Levin, various hospital administrators and the members of the IMAC on May 13, and decided that he would seek an abeyance—a temporary restriction—of Poliner's cath lab privileges to allow for an investigation as provided for in the Medical Staff bylaws.¹⁰

Late on May 13, Knochel met with Poliner, Harper, and Levin, and asked Poliner to agree to the abeyance. When Poliner asked what his options were, Knochel told him that the alternative was suspension of his privileges.¹¹ The abeyance letter was delivered to Poliner the next afternoon, May 14, and Knochel asked Poliner to sign and return it by 5:00 p.m. The letter advised Poliner that Patient 36 was the catalyst, and that Patients 3, 9, and 18 had also been referred by the CRRC to the IMD. The letter explained that Knochel was going to appoint an ad hoc committee of cardiologists to conduct a review, and that Poliner would have the opportunity to meet with Knochel and the IMAC to respond to any concerns raised by the committee that could lead to corrective action prior to the action being taken. Poliner requested more time so he could consult a lawyer, but Knochel declined. Poliner signed the abeyance request. Poliner subsequently engaged legal counsel.

Knochel immediately appointed an ad hoc committee of six cardiologists to review a sample of Poliner's cases. The committee reviewed 44 cases, and concluded that Poliner gave substandard care in more than half. The IMAC met on May 27, the thirteenth day of the abeyance, to consider the ad hoc committee report, and recommended conducting additional reviews of echocardiograms and obtaining an outside review. The IMAC also recommended extending the abeyance of Poliner's cath lab privileges as provided for in the bylaws.¹² Knochel had a letter hand delivered to Poliner requesting his consent to the extension. The letter advised Poliner that the extension was investigational in nature and that the ad hoc committee had reviewed 44 of his cases. The letter also stated that Poliner would have an opportunity to meet with the IMAC to respond to the ad hoc committee review. Knochel again told Poliner that the alternative to abeyance was a suspension. Poliner signed the extension request on May 29.

A meeting of the IMAC was scheduled for June 11. On June 8, Knochel sent Poliner a letter advising him of the June 11 meeting and asking him to attend the meeting. Knochel provided Poliner with a list of the patients that had been reviewed and the comments of the reviewers, and told him that the patient records would be available to him. Poliner requested that the June 11 meeting be delayed to allow him more time to review the patients' files, but his request was denied and the meeting was held as scheduled. The day after the meeting, June 12, the IMAC agreed unanimously that Poliner's cath lab and echocardiography privileges should be suspended.¹³

An addendum to the IMAC meeting minutes reflects the following concerns about Poliner: (1) poor clinical judgment; (2) inadequate skills, including angiocardiography and echocardiography; (3) unsatisfactory documentation of medical records; and (4) substandard patient care. Knochel accepted the recommendation of the IMAC and suspended Poliner's cath lab and echocardiography privileges on June 12.

On July 10, Poliner...