Dhillon v. Tenn. Health Related Bd. of Med. Examiners
| Decision Date | 07 March 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 3-12-0151,3-12-0151 |
| Parties | GURSHEEL S. DHILLON M.D. v. STATE OF TENNESSEE HEALTH RELATED BOARD OF MEDICAL EXAMINERS; LARRY ARNOLD M.D.; KEITH LOVELADY M.D.; MITCHELL MUTTER M.D.; MICHAEL ZANOLLI M.D.; BARRETT ROSEN M.D.; MICHAEL BARON M.D.; NEIL BECKFORD M.D.; DANIEL GARNER M.D.; KIMBERLY BELL M.D.; DENISE MORAN; JANICE STONE; KEN JONES; ANDREA HUDDLESTON; REGINE WEBSTER; JOHN and JANE DOES 1-25; and LIFEPOINT HOSPITAL'S SOUTHERN TENNESSEE MEDICAL CENTER; WILLIAM RUSS SPRAY; and MARK WERT M.D. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee |
By Order entered February 10, 2012 (Docket Entry No. 3), this civil action was referred to the Magistrate Judge for case management, decision on all pretrial, nondispositive motions and report and recommendation on all dispositive motions under 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) and to conduct any necessary proceedings under Rule 72 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Presently pending are four motions to dismiss:
The Plaintiff has filed responses in opposition to the motions. See Docket Entry Nos. 65, 79-80, and 92-93. For the reasons set out below, the Court recommends that the motions be granted and this action be dismissed.
The Plaintiff is a physician who was granted a medical license to practice in the State of Tennessee by the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners ("the Board") on June 25, 1999. Thereafter, he began practicing internal medicine in Winchester, Tennessee, and contracted with the Southern Tennessee Medical Center, LLC ("STMC") to become a staff physician at the STMC's medical facility in Winchester.
The Plaintiff's relationship with STMC deteriorated over the next three years, and in early 2003, STMC placed the Plaintiff under the review of a Peer Review Panel ("the Review Panel"). The Panel recommended that the Plaintiff not be appointed to the STMC active staff. This recommendation was adopted, and the Plaintiff's working relationship with the STMC was terminated in May 2003. The Plaintiff subsequently filed a civil lawsuit against the STMC in the Chancery Court for Williamson County, Tennessee, seeking damages from STMC based on the events that had occurred. The Plaintiff remained in litigation with the STMC for the next several years, with judgments ultimately entered against him in 2006 and 2008.
During this time period, the Plaintiff continued to practice medicine in the Winchester area through arrangements with other medical facilities. However, in 2007, a Notice of Charges and Memorandum for Assessment of Civil Penalties ("Notice of Charges') was filed against the Plaintiff by the Tennessee Department of Health, Division of Health Related Boards ("Department ofHealth") regarding the Plaintiff's medical treatment of a patient during 2004 and 2005. After a hearing, the Board entered an Amended Final Order on March 19, 2008, which placed the Plaintiff's medical license on probationary status and required that he meet several conditions in order for the probation to be lifted. See Docket Entry No. 55-1. The conditions were that he: 1) submit to a Physician Assessment by the Center for Personalized Education for Physicians ("CPEP") and comply with all recommendations of the CPEP; 2) enroll in and successfully complete within the first six months of the probation period a three day medical course and provide proof of his compliance with this requirement; and 3) pay the actual and reasonable costs of prosecuting the Notice of Charges brought against him. Id. The Amended Final Order also provided that a violation of the Order shall constitute a separate violation of the Medical Practice Act, Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 63-610 et seq., and would be grounds for further disciplinary action by the Board. Id.
The Plaintiff did not comply with the Board's requirements, and, in 2009, the Department of Health initiated further proceedings against the Plaintiff by filing a second Notice of Charges and an Amended Notice of Charges alleging that he had failed to comply with the March 19, 2008, Order and that he had engaged in a pattern of continued or repeated malpractice, ignorance, negligence, or incompetence regarding the medical care of 13 patients between January 2000 and December 2002. Prior to hearings before the Board, the Plaintiff filed a complaint in the Chancery Court for Davidson County, Tennessee ("Chancery Action No. 10-449-II"), seeking various forms of relief, including a temporary injunction preventing any hearings on the charges and a stay of the administrative proceedings. See Dhillon v. State of Tn., Health Related Bds., 2010 WL 5109770 (Tn.Ct.App., Dec. 9, 2010). The Plaintiff's attempt to stop the proceedings before the Board was unsuccessful and the Board held hearings on the charges, after which it entered a Final Order on February 3, 2011, finding that the Plaintiff had not complied with the prior directives from the Board and indefinitely suspending the Plaintiff's medical license until such time as he complied with the Amended Final Order of March 19, 2008. See Docket Entry No. 55-2. The Plaintiff was also directed to: 1) consult with Dr. Larry Arnold, the Board's Medical Director, regarding clarification or interpretation of theCPEP requirements of the February 3, 2011, Order; 2) appear before the full Board prior to the lifting of the suspension of his medical license; and 3) pay the actual and reasonable costs of prosecuting the Notice of Charges brought against him. Id.
Shortly after the Board's suspension of his license, the Plaintiff initiated two new actions in the state courts. On March 21, 2011, he filed a complaint in the Chancery Court of Davidson County, Tennessee ("Chancery Action No. 11-378-II"), against the Department of Health, Larry Arnold, Keith Lovelady, Mitchell Mutter, Michael Zanolli, Barrett Rosen, Ken Jones, Andrea Huddleston, Daniel Garner, Juanita Stone, Denise Moran, and Kimberly Bell alleging violations of his federal constitutional rights, as well as violations of state and federal law, and seeking unspecified declaratory and injunctive relief. See Docket Entry No. 55-3. On April 21, 2011, the state judge entered a final order dismissing the action in its entirety after finding that the Plaintiff had not sought review of the administrative decision of the Board to suspend the Plaintiff's medical license but that the Plaintiff had brought an original action against the individual defendants over which the state court had no subject matter jurisdiction. See Docket Entry No. 55-5. On or about February 21, 2012, the Plaintiff filed a motion to set aside the dismissal and re-open his case, see Docket Entry No. 55-6,2 which the state court denied on May 29, 2012, after holding a hearing on May 11, 2012. See Docket Entry Nos. 72-1 and 62-2. The plaintiff also filed an action in the Chancery Court of Davidson County, Tennessee ("Chancery Action No. 11-0835-II") under the Tennessee Uniform Administrative Procedures Act seeking to reverse an administrative law judge's denial of his motion for an award of costs and his objections to an affidavit of costs filed by the Department of Health for the costs of the proceedings before the Board. See Docket Entry No. 62-1. By Order entered May 9, 2012, the state judge affirmed the orders of the administrative law judge and dismissed the Plaintiff's action. Id. On June 6, 2012, the Plaintiff filed a notice of appeal fromthe orders entered in both Chancery Court actions. See Docket Entry No. 72-2. The current status of the appeal is unknown.
In addition to the above noted state administrative and court proceedings, on April 15, 2008, the Plaintiff filed a Voluntary Petition for Bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, In Re Gursheel S. Dhillon, Case No. 3:08-bk-03109. See Docket Entry No. 57-3. By Order entered July 27, 2012, the Bankruptcy case remains open pending resolution of matters in that case. See Docket Entry No. 609 in Case No. 3:08-bk-03109. The Trustee's Motion to Close the case, filed February 5, 2013, remains pending at this time. See Docket Entry No. 642 in Case No. 3:08-bk-03109.
On February 7, 2012, the Plaintiff filed this action pro se. His original Complaint (Docket Entry No. 1) seeks damages and unspecified equitable relief and names as defendants the Board; Larry Arnold, the Board's Medical Director and Consultant; Board members Keith Lovelady, Mitchell Mutter, Michael Zanolli, Barrett Rosen, Michael Baron, Regine Webster, and Neil Beckford; Department of Health employees Denise Moran, Juanita Stone, and Ken Jones; Andrea Huddleston, Department of Health Deputy General Counsel; Daniel Garner and Kimberly Bell, two physicians who provided expert testimony at the Plaintiff's hearings before the Board; Lifepoint Hospital's Southern Tennessee Medical Center;3 and William Spray and Mark Wert, two STMC employees.
The Plaintiff's motion to amend his complaint (Docket Entry No. 78), was granted by Order entered February 19, 2013 (Docket Entry No. 105). In his Amended Complaint (Docket Entry No. 85), the Plaintiff seeks damages and reinstatement of his medical license and naming as additional...
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