A breast cancer surgeon and researcher at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque has sued the university, alleging she was fired after reporting patients were receiving substandard care, according to a KRQE News 13 report.
The lawsuit alleges Anne Marie Wallace, MD, was subjected to systematic retaliation by her supervisors, who intended to cut her research hours, harm her academic career and remove her position in the university's Cancer Research and Treatment Center. The lawsuit claims Dr. Wallace was terminated after two incidents: when she refused to agree on a new contract last June, which cut her salary 15 percent among other changes, and when she protested an allegedly defamatory annual performance review.
Dr. Wallace alleges the surgical care of breast cancer patients was below acceptable standards and medical records were tampered with, sometimes falsified, at the center. The lawsuit claims her complaints of care went unnoticed, with no supervisors "ever meaningfully" addressing them.
UNM's interim legal counsel says the complaint is "deliberately and unnecessarily inflammatory" and intended to cause "as much harm as possible to her former colleagues and the institution," according to the report. The university has adamantly denied any connection between the personnel action and any complaints Dr. Wallace "may or may not have made," according to the report.
Read the KRQE News 13 report on Dr. Anne Marie Wallace and the University of New Mexico.
Read more about physicians and whistleblowing:
- Neurosurgeon Says New York's Upstate Medical University Fired Him Over Whistleblowing
- LSU Medical Center Settles Retaliation Allegations After Firing Whistleblowers
The lawsuit alleges Anne Marie Wallace, MD, was subjected to systematic retaliation by her supervisors, who intended to cut her research hours, harm her academic career and remove her position in the university's Cancer Research and Treatment Center. The lawsuit claims Dr. Wallace was terminated after two incidents: when she refused to agree on a new contract last June, which cut her salary 15 percent among other changes, and when she protested an allegedly defamatory annual performance review.
Dr. Wallace alleges the surgical care of breast cancer patients was below acceptable standards and medical records were tampered with, sometimes falsified, at the center. The lawsuit claims her complaints of care went unnoticed, with no supervisors "ever meaningfully" addressing them.
UNM's interim legal counsel says the complaint is "deliberately and unnecessarily inflammatory" and intended to cause "as much harm as possible to her former colleagues and the institution," according to the report. The university has adamantly denied any connection between the personnel action and any complaints Dr. Wallace "may or may not have made," according to the report.
Read the KRQE News 13 report on Dr. Anne Marie Wallace and the University of New Mexico.
Read more about physicians and whistleblowing:
- Neurosurgeon Says New York's Upstate Medical University Fired Him Over Whistleblowing
- LSU Medical Center Settles Retaliation Allegations After Firing Whistleblowers