Aug. 17–Dr. J. David Thompson, former director of orthopedic surgery at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, has sued the hospital and St. Louis University, claiming his complaints about hospital conditions and patient care led to the loss of his job last year.
The suit, filed Friday in St. Louis Circuit Court, alleges that the hospital’s orthopedic clinics were overwhelmed by the volume of patients, creating safety problems and leading to shortcuts in care. Medical residents occasionally performed surgery without a supervising physician present during crucial moments, the suit said, a violation of state regulation and the code of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
The suit does not reference specific incidents of inadequate supervision. In a phone interview Tuesday, Thompson declined to give any details about the “ghost” surgeries, but said, “There is no allegation that can’t be proven.”
Neither St. Louis University, which employed Thompson as an associate professor, nor the hospital would comment on the lawsuit. Bob Davidson, a hospital spokesman, said the university and hospital comply with all federal regulations for supervision of residents.
The hospital is “committed to providing compassionate and clinically excellent care for children,” President Doug Ries said in a statement.
SLU medical school hired Thompson, 51, in June 2000 to fill the orthopedic slot at Cardinal Glennon. He worked under an annual contract that was allowed to expire June 30, 2004.
Medical school faculty make up the majority of the physician staff at the Catholic nonprofit hospital, which is part of SSM Health Care-St. Louis.
The suit alleges Thompson was terminated in violation of a state law that encourages employees to report problems affecting patient safety in hospitals. The suit seeks $775,000 in actual economic damages and an unspecified amount in compensatory and punitive damages for harming Thompson’s career and causing emotional distress.
The suit alleges administrators at SLU and Cardinal Glennon ignored Thompson’s repeated complaints about unsafe staffing levels, inadequate security, unclean conditions and a lack of equipment.
Thompson said in the suit that he sent a memo to Ries on May 6, 2002, complaining about a new policy charging doctors for parking. Thompson told Ries in response to an “ongoing lack of support,” he intended to admit some future patients to nearby St. Louis University Hospital. That institution is not licensed for pediatric patients.
According to the suit, Ries advised Thompson that his malpractice coverage through Cardinal Glennon would be void for non-approved admissions to other hospitals.
Thompson’s suit said that in the fall of 2002, he alerted Dr. Max Burgdorf, director of Glennon Care Pediatrics Associates, to problems at hospitals connected with Glennon Care for Kids. That program puts Cardinal Glennon physicians in emergency rooms in Missouri and Illinois. In turn, those hospitals refer patients to Cardinal Glennon.
Thompson alleges orthopedists on emergency room call at unidentified hospitals served by Glennon Care refused emergency and follow-up care to children covered by Medicaid. Instead, they illegally referred them to Glennon, a practice known as dumping, the suit said.
Thompson declined Tuesday to identify the hospitals he accused of the practice.
He said he told Burgdorf in a follow-up memo that children turned away by emergency room doctors had suffered “negative medical consequences.” He declined to elaborate Tuesday.
According to the suit, Thompson began to personally screen all requests to transfer orthopedic patients from other emergency rooms. He said he refused admission when Cardinal Glennon had inadequate staffing, over-tired staff or insufficient operating room time to care for patients. On Feb. 27, 2003, Thompson declined to accept two transfer patients, a decision that angered Ries, the suit said.
On April 2, 2003, Thompson learned he was being replaced as director of pediatric orthopedic surgery because he “couldn’t get along with the administration at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.” The suit maintains he was told by a medical school administrator that he could continue to work at the hospital at his current pay rate.
On May 29, 2003, the suit said, he was told the medical school would not renew his contract after June 2004 and that his pay would be reduced in the interim.
In his final medical school performance review, Thompson was informed his patient care was “very good” but his administrative performance was unsatisfactory. The review advised Thompson that his primary goal for the year should be to find another job, the suit said.
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