“My shifts were canceled, and the company wouldn’t tell me more. I didn’t know what to think.”
and an emergency department physician.
“With the exception of the lone physician on the committee, these individuals are not ‘peers’ as contemplated by the stat- utes at issue, capable of evaluating the quality of medical and health care ser- vices and the competence of physicians who are the subject of the committee’s review.” Mr. Hughes says the nonphysician members of the committee said in their depositions that they weren’t competent to evaluate Dr. Mask.
“A day or two before my first shift, I got a call from the staffing company, which notified me there were ‘issues with my credentials.’ My shifts were can- celed, and the company wouldn’t tell me more. I didn’t know what to think. I have a clean record, and I filled out all of the paperwork on time,” Dr. Mask said. Without getting any more informa-
tion, Dr. Mask assumed the cancellation was an anomaly.
That was until another staffing com- pany told him a Texarkana emergency department had removed him from the schedule. Other hospitals in Texas and New Mexico did the same.
Then in the summer of 2011, he found out why, thanks to an unnamed “Good Samaritan,” who gave him a copy of a letter that Dallam-Hartley Counties Healthcare System Chief Executive Of- ficer Leroy Schaffner sent Texas-based staffing company Concord Medical Group Inc. in July 2010. Mr. Schaffner recommended that Dr. Mask and seven other physicians under contract with the company discontinue working at Coon Memorial Hospital in Dalhart. Mr. Schaffner cited “quality and liability is- sues” per a review by the hospital’s ER/ Trauma Committee. “I felt sick when I read the letter, and I was totally shocked,” Dr. Mask said. From November 2009 to April 2010, Dr. Mask worked at Coon Memorial un-
52 TEXAS MEDICINE December 2013
der a contract between the hospital and Concord. During that time, he says, no one at the hospital ever approached him with concerns about his work, and the hospital never restricted or terminated his privileges. With his livelihood and professional
reputation on the line, Dr. Mask turned to the Texas Medical Association for help. A TMA staff attorney gave him a list of health law attorneys. He chose Harlin- gen attorney Will Hughes to represent him in his lawsuit against Coon Memo- rial. He sued the hospital for libel, slan- der, defamation, and falsely representing that he and seven other physicians had “quality and liability issues pursuant to a review by a medical staff committee.” He sought compensation for damage to his character and reputation and non- economic damages for mental anguish and loss of future earning capacity. TMA filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting him in April. In the brief, TMA argued in part that the hospital’s ER/Trauma Committee, composed primarily of nonphysicians, didn’t appear to be a medical peer re- view committee under Texas law. TMA said the hospital’s “peer review” committee consisted of Mr. Schaffner, a surgery scrub technician, the hospital laboratory director, an ambulance driv- er, a hospital administrator, a licensed vocational nurse, a respiratory therapist,
“The only physician member of the committee said he didn’t know of any liability or quality issues involving Dr. Mask. During this lengthy case, Dr. Mask and I were under the impression there might be legitimate issues involving his care. This caused Dr. Mask great concern because he had to file suit and conduct discovery to ultimately learn he had done no wrong,” Mr. Hughes said. During the case, Dr. Mask learned Coon Memorial asked Texas A&M Health Science Center Rural and Community Health Institute to review his work at the hospital. The center concluded he hadn’t deviated from the standard of care. After TMA filed its brief, Coon Memo-
rial retracted its argument that the ER/ Trauma Committee was a peer review committee under Texas law and settled the case. The settlement terms of the case are confidential. Robert L. Hargett, Coon Memorial’s attorney in the suit, says it was unfor- tunate Dr. Mask’s name was included in a letter suggesting there were quality or liability issues associated with care he provided. “On further investigation, the hospital determined Dr. Mask had no such qual- ity or liability issues. As a governmental unit, the hospital and its administrator had viable affirmative defenses that we are confident would have resulted in a favorable disposition; however, settling the case was the practical and right thing to do,” Mr. Hargett said. The legal battle took a financial and emotional toll on Dr. Mask. He was pit- ted against a large hospital system with abundant financial resources. “The law- suit depleted me of all my savings. Even after it was obvious the hospital was
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