“It was comforting to know I wasn’t alone in this process. Someone actually had a clue what was going on and was willing to help me. I had someone on my side who understood what I was going through.”
Court of Appeals, the hospital and other defendants claimed the physicians suing them “became a significant disruptive force within CMC, interrupting meetings with shouting and name-calling, clash- ing with staff, and disseminating false information to patients about … a car- diovascular surgeon who eventually left CMC and Victoria to escape [p]laintiffs’ harassment.” Drs. Parikh, Chandna, and Gaalla maintain that CMC never mentioned their alleged disruptive conduct before they filed the suit.
“It is unfortunate that CMC now claims that our raising concerns regard- ing inappropriate procedures or poor pa- tient outcomes is somehow ‘disruptive,’” Dr. Parikh said. Before he and his colleagues sued, Dr.
Parikh says, CMC sent them letters ask- ing why they weren’t referring patients to it’s exclusive cardiac surgeon. “CMC’s only concern was the best in-
ceedings across the country for 16 years by providing physicians with assistance and expertise. (See “Litigation Center Stands Up for Physicians, Medicine,” op- posite page.) Most recently, the AMA Litigation Center collaborated with TMA and the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) to support three Victoria cardiologists who held medical staff privileges at Citizens Medical Cen- ter (CMC), a county-owned hospital in Victoria. All of the cardiologists are of Asiatic Indian origin, and all are Ameri- can citizens. They regularly admitted patients and exercised their privileges at CMC until 2007. At that time, however, CMC contracted with a new cardiovas- cular surgeon. The physicians refused to refer their patients to the cardiovascular surgeon, contending he had a high mor- tality rate and performed unnecessary surgeries.
The same year, CMC signed employ- ment contracts with five other cardiolo- gists who referred virtually all of their
46 TEXAS MEDICINE October 2011
cardiology surgery patients to the con- tracted cardiovascular surgeon. In February 2010, the CMC Board of
Directors closed the cardiology depart- ment to the three noncontracted cardi- ologists. The department was open only to physicians under contract on the CMC staff.
A CMC resolution removing the three physicians from the hospital says it “is not in fact, and should not be interpret- ed to be, a determination or finding by the [CMC] Board of incompetent or un- professional conduct.”
One week after CMC closed the cardi- ology department, Ajay Gaalla, MD; Har- ish Chandna, MD; and Dakshesh “Kumar” Parikh, MD, sued CMC, its Board of Di- rectors, its chief executive officer, and one of the contracted cardiologists. The physicians allege in Gaalla et. al. v. Citi- zens Medical Center et. al. among other things that the resolution violated their federal constitutional rights to substan- tive due process.
In a brief to the U.S. Fifth Circuit
terest of the business of CMC, in other words, CMC’s profit,” he said. In August 2010, Drs. Parikh, Chandna, and Gaalla filed a second suit alleging that the reduction of their medical staff privileges was motivated by ethnic dis- crimination, as well as economic reasons. They claim constitutional violations of due process, equal protection of the laws, and various common law rights. “Prior to working at CMC, we never had a need to reflect on our nationality, ancestry, or ethnicity in a professional environment. Before our experience at CMC, we had always been treated as well-trained and competent physicians, residents of Victoria, Texas, and proud American citizens,” Dr. Parikh said. TMA, AMA, and AAPI filed an amicus
curiae brief in Brown v. Gaalla in June. The brief argues medical staff privileges are valuable rights, protectable under federal law against ethnic origin discrim- ination. TMA believes the hospital board passing a resolution shouldn’t override hospital medical bylaws. To read the brief, visit
www.ama-assn.org/resources/ doc/legal-issues/brown-v-gaalla.pdf. Dr. Parikh says he and his colleagues
appreciate the support and assistance TMA, AMA, and AAPI have provided. “It is organizations like TMA, AMA,
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