A SOURED RELATIONSHIP Dr. Gomez practiced at Memorial Her- mann Memorial City Medical Center from 1998 to 2012, at different times holding the titles of chair of the gen- eral surgery/cardiovascular section, chair of the Department of Surgery, and director of robotic surgery. Ac- cording to Dr. Gomez’s court filings, he pioneered robotic-assisted heart surgeries in Houston. The robotic-assisted procedure
“eliminates the need to crack open the patient’s sternum in favor of much smaller entry ports for the robotic sur- gical tools,” and led to better outcomes, quicker recoveries, and shorter hospi- tal stays for patients, according to Dr. Gomez’s court filings. Dr. Gomez was the first surgeon in
Houston to perform a robotic double bypass surgery, according to the fil- ings, and Memorial Hermann used his specialized abilities as part of its marketing efforts in the West Houston and Katy communities for years. The hospital spent “significant amounts of time, energy, and advertising dol- lars” promoting Dr. Gomez and the robotic-assisted procedure, Dr. Gomez claimed. But Dr. Gomez says management
and operational changes at Memorial Hermann brought a decline in patient care at the hospital, and Dr. Gomez began making plans to move his sur- gical procedures to Houston Method- ist West Hospital, which would open in 2010. “Memorial Hermann, in my view,
was putting profits above patient care with this change in leadership,” Dr. Gomez said. “And when those things affected my patients, I was speaking out. And because I was taking a strong stance on these quality issues that I thought were more important than the monetary issues, they decided to make an example of me.” According to Dr. Gomez’s lawsuit,
the hospital then began its campaign to discredit him and “crush his abil- ity to practice medicine” in the West Houston and Katy areas. Their efforts
August 2015 TEXAS MEDICINE 65
FAIRNESS IN PEER REVIEW
TMA policy condemns “sham peer review” and manipula- tion of medical staff bylaws by hospitals attempting to silence physician concerns about access to quality care at hospitals. TMA opposes such practices and other tactics that chill or inhibit a staff physician’s ability to advocate on behalf of pa- tients’ best interests. The policy says TMA will work to:
• Ensure accused physicians receive reasonable rights and due process for peer review and quality assessment efforts;
• Solicit member input and address issues on misuse of the peer review process or “disruptive physicians” policies by health care facilities or peer review entities;
• Educate and inform members about the potential misuse of peer review; and
• End the use of “disruptive physicians” policies extended to non-patient care issues, such as economic credentialing or failure to support marketing or business plans of the hos- pital or health care facility, or used when physicians raise serious quality or patient safety issues about the facility and their practice.
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