By Scott Goldstein, The Dallas Morning News
Oct. 4–Two top officials resigned this week from an Ennis hospital where a doctor who sexually assaulted female patients practiced for at least two years after patients and nurses first accused him of misconduct.
Dr. Aniruddha Ashok Chitale admitted in May 2005 two sexual assaults and two misdemeanor crimes against four sedated female patients at Ennis Regional Medical Center between September 2004 and January 2005.
Ennis Regional CEO Bernard Sweet and chief nursing officer Jennifer Humpal resigned Monday, said Steve Spitzer, an attorney for the hospital. Their resignations followed a report last week in The Dallas Morning News that the hospital was warned by patients about Dr. Chitale’s conduct as early as February 2003 — two years before he was arrested, documents show. Nurses began complaining to hospital officials as early as fall 2003.
The complaints from patients and nurses alleged sexual improprieties during procedures and other violations of hospital policy, including having only one nurse in the endoscopy room.
A lawsuit in Dallas County on behalf of six women accuses Dr. Chitale, the hospital and his former employer of negligence, saying they knowingly put the women at risk.
Reached at his home Tuesday, Mr. Sweet said, “I can’t answer any questions” and hung up. Ms. Humpal could not be reached for comment.
Asked about the resignations Tuesday, Jane Mize, Ennis Regional’s director of marketing and physician recruiting, said in an e-mail response: “It is our policy not to comment on personnel matters. … As we know, this community has rallied behind their hospital in the past, and I fully expect them to support the new leadership.”
The resignations follow a contentious few days at the hospital, according to John Sullivan, the hospital’s chief of surgery, and Basem Jassin, chief of staff.
In a previously scheduled medical staff meeting Friday, angry doctors confronted Mr. Sweet about The News report and why they were not made aware of the earlier complaints against Dr. Chitale, the doctors said. Dr. Sullivan and Dr. Jassin are members of the hospital’s peer review board and said the complaints against Dr. Chitale should have been brought before that body.
“We wanted him to make a statement to the press to be sure that our patients and the community recognized that the normal peer review process was not carried out,” Dr. Sullivan said.
But Mr. Sweet would not answer questions and referred to a prepared statement that said he could not comment because of the pending lawsuit, Dr. Sullivan said.
“The medical staff demanded answers as to why it was that these complaints had not been brought before the formal process,” Dr. Jassin said. “Their answer was, ‘We can’t comment. We can’t comment.’ “
Dr. Sullivan said doctors at the hospital were not aware of complaints against Dr. Chitale until he was arrested in February 2005 on charges of sexually assaulting Sherri Simpson during an October 2004 colonoscopy. DNA evidence in the case determined that Dr. Chitale’s semen was on Mrs. Simpson’s face.
More than a dozen female patients came forward to police and prosecutors after Dr. Chitale’s arrest to allege sexual misconduct by the doctor.
The doctor plea-bargained for six months in the Ellis County Jail and 10 years’ probation for sexually assaulting Mrs. Simpson and Sharon Fincher. The plea deal included two misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure and public lewdness related to medical procedures on two other women at the hospital. Dr. Chitale also agreed to permanently surrender his Texas medical license.
But Dr. Sullivan and Dr. Jassin said it wasn’t until they read Friday’s story in The News that they learned complaints about Dr. Chitale’s conduct dated back at least two years before his arrest.
“This is the disgust of the medical staff, that we’re informed of this by The Dallas Morning News,” Dr. Sullivan said. “It’s absolutely repulsive.”
Dr. Jassin said the peer review board has the power to request that physicians stop procedures pending the outcome of investigations into complaints. If the physician fails to comply, the board can recommend the chief of staff suspend the physician. He said that process probably would have happened in Dr. Chitale’s case if complaints had been brought to their attention.
An official with LifePoint Hospitals Inc., the Tennessee company that owns Ennis Regional, visited the hospital Monday and Tuesday to address physician concerns and discuss the resignations, Dr. Sullivan said.
Les Weisbrod, an attorney representing Mrs. Fincher in the lawsuit, said he does not think the latest development will affect their case. Because Mr. Sweet and Ms. Humpal quit after the fact, he said, the resignations probably will not be admissible as evidence at trial.
“My question is, Why didn’t they fire them a long time ago?” Mr. Weisbrod said.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Simpson said she was elated Tuesday by news of the resignations. The News generally does not identify victims of sexual assault, but Mrs. Simpson and Mrs. Fincher agreed to be identified.
Mrs. Simpson first heard the news from Mrs. Fincher, whom she met as the criminal case was unfolding.
“It’s the first time that there’s been an acknowledgment that in fact there were wrong things going on at that hospital, criminal things,” Mrs. Simpson said. “Up until this point, the hospital has never wanted to acknowledge any sort of responsibility.”
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Dallas Morning News
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