Tom Weiner, MD, a former oncologist at St. Peter's Health in Helena, Mont., plans to file a lawsuit against the health system after his dismissal in November, reports the Independent Record.
In a letter addressed to the paper's editor and citizens of Helena, Dr. Weiner claims that the hospital criticized his treatment of a patient before taking his badge and blocking him from its computer system on Oct. 15. In a separate interview with the Independent Record, he said the actions taken against him were "extremely unusual," but declined to expand on the specific patient's treatment.
On Nov. 12, Dr. Weiner claims hospital officials forced him to take a "voluntary leave of absence" and told him if he kept quiet, they wouldn't submit a damaging report to the National Practitioner Data Bank. St. Peter's allegedly terminated him Nov. 17 as a result of "its criticism of my care of an additional six patients out of the thousands I have treated during the past 24 years," Dr. Weiner wrote in the letter.
"St. Peter's has left me no choice but to defend my reputation from a professional assassination," Dr. Weiner wrote. "Although it is the last thing in the world I want to do as a longtime resident of Helena, my attorneys will be filing a lawsuit against St. Peter’s and potentially others to put an end to this ridiculous smear campaign."
An earlier, class-action lawsuit filed Nov. 13 against St. Peter's claims Dr. Weiner's former patients were left unassigned to a new physician after his sudden absence, resulting in gaps in their care.
Wade Johnson, St. Peter's Health CEO, said "numerous concerns" emerged about Dr. Weiner's patient care in a statement issued Dec. 7.
"The issues we have identified include the following: harm that was caused to patients by receiving treatments, including chemotherapy, that were not clinically indicated or necessary; failure to meet state and federal laws associated with the prescribing of narcotics; failure to refer patients to other specialists for appropriate treatments; and failure to meet requirements associated with clinical documentation," Mr. Johnson wrote.
St. Peter's is "aggressively recruiting" new permanent medical oncologists and is currently working with oncologists from neighboring communities and health systems, Mr. Johnson said.
To read the full statement, click here.
Dr. Weiner officially filed suit Dec. 10 against St. Peter's, Mr. Johnson and several of the health system's physicians.
Editor's note: This story was last updated Dec. 15 at 7:45 am CST.
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