Physicians and community leaders gathered Thursday to publicly denounce the decision by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Broward Health's board to fire CEO Pauline Grant, according to a report from the Sun Sentinel.
Ms. Grant was fired Dec. 1 when the North Broward Hospital District Board decided by a 4-1 vote to remove her due to alleged potential violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and alleged questionable patient referral practices, according to the report. However, physicians and community members are concerned the moral integrity of the dismissal process was compromised and that Ms. Grant was wrongly accused, according to the report.
"As the director of the orthopedic trauma program, I feel I have to give you some of the facts," said Steven Naide, MD, of Broward Health North, according to the report. "Since I have known Pauline I have never, ever felt there has been wrongdoing in assigning call to the orthopedic surgeons. I have never seen or had any evidence that anyone received call for bringing cases."
Other physicians are concerned the board's actions are harming Fort Lauderdale-based Broward Health Medical Center's reputation. As the largest hospital in the system, the medical center's photo accompanies many news stories about the firing of Ms. Grant, which has medical staff concerned, according to the report.
The one board member who voted against Ms. Grant's dismissal, Sheela VanHoose, made a motion to reverse the vote after an investigation is completed, but the motion died, according to the report.
Ms. Grant has sued the board over open-meetings law violations.
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