Charleston Area Medical Center administrators wrongfully revoked Charleston surgeon R.E. Hamrick Jr.'s hospital privileges, damaged his reputation and threw him "out onto the street," the doctor's lawyer told a Kanawha County jury Tuesday.
Charleston Area Medical Center administrators wrongfully revoked Charleston surgeon R.E. Hamrick Jr.'s hospital privileges, damaged his reputation and threw him "out onto the street," the doctor's lawyer told a Kanawha County jury Tuesday.
"When you revoke someone's privileges, it is a scar on the reputation for life," said Charleston lawyer Scott Segal, who's representing Hamrick in a lawsuit against CAMC. "Send a message to the hospital to put doctors and patients first."
CAMC's lawyers said the hospital executives did nothing of the sort.
They said CAMC's administration repeatedly tried to work with Hamrick, who wanted to fund himself against medical malpractice instead of going through a commercial insurance company. Executives urged Hamrick to buy a three-month commercial insurance policy so they'd have time to study his self-insurance plan. The surgeon refused, hospital lawyers said.
"CAMC acted reasonably and in good faith," said Bob O'Neil. "They bent over backward ... and the thanks they got was to get sued."
Hamrick sued CAMC in September 2004 after administrators pulled his privileges to practice at the hospital. The surgeon's right to practice at CAMC was reinstated by court order four days later.
The state Supreme Court eventually ruled that Hamrick's self-funded malpractice insurance - he put up $1 million of his own money for coverage - was legal and complied with CAMC's bylaws.
Hamrick is now seeking compensatory and punitive damages, alleging CAMC executives altered documents, changed meeting minutes and sullied his reputation.
During opening arguments in the trial that started Monday, Segal said CAMC administrators put the hospital before patients.
"Not only did Dr. Hamrick have insurance, his insurance was better," Segal said. "He put a million bucks on the line for his patients. This was the hospital's guarantee."
Charleston Area Medical Center administrators wrongfully revoked Charleston surgeon R.E. Hamrick Jr.'s hospital privileges, damaged his reputation and threw him "out onto the street," the doctor's lawyer told a Kanawha County jury Tuesday.
"When you revoke someone's privileges, it is a scar on the reputation for life," said Charleston lawyer Scott Segal, who's representing Hamrick in a lawsuit against CAMC. "Send a message to the hospital to put doctors and patients first."
CAMC's lawyers said the hospital executives did nothing of the sort.
They said CAMC's administration repeatedly tried to work with Hamrick, who wanted to fund himself against medical malpractice instead of going through a commercial insurance company. Executives urged Hamrick to buy a three-month commercial insurance policy so they'd have time to study his self-insurance plan. The surgeon refused, hospital lawyers said.
"CAMC acted reasonably and in good faith," said Bob O'Neil. "They bent over backward ... and the thanks they got was to get sued."
Hamrick sued CAMC in September 2004 after administrators pulled his privileges to practice at the hospital. The surgeon's right to practice at CAMC was reinstated by court order four days later.
The state Supreme Court eventually ruled that Hamrick's self-funded malpractice insurance - he put up $1 million of his own money for coverage - was legal and complied with CAMC's bylaws.
Hamrick is now seeking compensatory and punitive damages, alleging CAMC executives altered documents, changed meeting minutes and sullied his reputation.
During opening arguments in the trial that started Monday, Segal said CAMC administrators put the hospital before patients.
"Not only did Dr. Hamrick have insurance, his insurance was better," Segal said. "He put a million bucks on the line for his patients. This was the hospital's guarantee."
O'Neill said Hamrick was the first doctor in the state to declare he was providing his own medical liability coverage by putting $1 million in a trust.
At one point, CAMC executives offered to purchase a temporary commercial insurance plan for Hamrick until the matter was resolved, O'Neil said. They also offered to hire Hamrick as a hospital employee so he would have malpractice insurance.
Hamrick rebuffed the offers, Segal said, because the surgeon didn't want to be "controlled" by the hospital administration.
For months, Hamrick failed to provide documents that showed proof he had "$1 million in the bank" to cover his self-insurance plan, O'Neill told jurors Tuesday.
"He didn't give CAMC a single scrap of paper," he said. "They begged for it."
O'Neill said Hamrick has a "thriving practice," and the surgeon's reputation wasn't damaged. The lawyer displayed a slide to the jury, showing that Hamrick has made more than $800,000 a year in profit from his surgical practice during the past decade, including the year he filed the lawsuit against CAMC.
"There's no defamation, there is no proof, there's no damages," O'Neil said. "He didn't lose a nickel."
The jury trial is expected to last a week. Circuit Judge Jack Alsop of Webster County is overseeing the trial, after all seven Kanawha circuit judges recused themselves from the case. The civil case is being held at the Robert C. Byrd U.S. Courthouse in Charleston because no rooms were available at the Kanawha County Judicial Annex.
To contact staff writer Eric Eyre, use e-mail or call 348-4869.
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