Arab Muslim doctor loses appeal against Salina Regional Health Center as he wasn't hospital employee
DENVER — An Arab Muslim doctor who claimed he was discriminated against by the Salina Regional Health Center has lost his court case against the hospital.
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday against Rafik Benaissa's claims that he filed in a 2019 lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Kansas.
The court's 3-0 decision upheld a ruling by District Judge Holly Teeter.
Judge Nancy Moritz, of Topeka, was one of the three appellate judges who issued Thursday's 20-page decision for the Denver-based court. It considers appeals from Kansas and five other states. The other two judges are from Denver.
The primary issued in the decisions by Teeter and by the appeals court was whether the doctor was an employee of the center.
The decisions against the doctor hinged on the fact that he sued the medical center, although he was not its employee. Instead, he was employed by LocumTenens.com, which the center contracted with for him to work there, Thursday's decision states.
LocumTenems.com website states that thousands of health care professionals contract with locum tenens companies that provide physician staffing services for hospitals, outpatient medical centers, government and military facilities, group practices, community health centers and correctional facilities.
Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary defines locum tenens as a person "filling an office for a time or temporarily taking the place of another."
Court didn't decide discrimination claims
The district court and the appeals court did not decide the case on whether the center had discriminated against Benaissa, as he claimed, based on race, religion and national origin. Those types of discrimination are prohibited by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The doctor also claimed the center violated Kansas law by retaliating against him.
In his retaliation claim, the doctor alleged that members of SRHC’s medical staff used a peer-review process to retaliate against him for referring patients to surgeons outside of the center and for expressing his concerns that it was violating standards of care.
He sought actual and punitive damages from the center.
The doctor performed services from Feb.1, 2018, through Jan. 31, 2019, while the center searched for a permanent surgeon. according to Thursday's decision.
In December 2018, SRHC gave LocumTenens.com 30 days’ written notice that it no longer wished to schedule Benaissa’s services, the decision goes on to say.
The decision also says he is experienced board-certified orthopedic surgeon who was licensed in 11 states.
The appeals court affirmed Judge Teeter's ruling denying SRHC’s motion to have the doctor pay its attorney’s fees to represent the center.
Court records show that the Kennedy Berkley Yarnevich & Williamson law firm represented the doctor and the Clark, Mize & Linville law firm, represented the health center. Both are Salina firms.
The Salina Journal reported in 2018 that emergency room physician Zachary Jepson said Benaissa and trauma surgeon Dwane Beckemhauer should be given credit for their work on a patient who had sustained a rattlesnake bite.
This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Arab Muslim doctor loses appeal against Salina Regional Health Center
