'Blackballed' doctor's lawyer says HCA's legal response topples like a 'house of cards'
ASHEVILLE – A medical malpractice report that ruined a longtime Mission Hospital cancer doctor’s career has become the center of a lawsuit between the doctor and his former employer. Attorneys for Mission Hospital and its corporate owner, HCA Healthcare, argue the report is true. David John Hetzel, who performed most of his inpatient work at Mission Hospital for more than two decades, says that it’s not.
Hetzel initially sued Mission and HCA June 9, arguing that his former employer incorrectly reported him to the National Practitioner’s Databank, which is a repository of medical malpractice payments and adverse actions against individuals and entities in health care run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In the complaint, Hetzel argued that his former employer did not correct or rescind an NPDB report it filed following a surgery he performed that had complications, even though Mission staff and the North Carolina Medical Board cleared him. This report proved to be a black mark on his resume. He applied to 15 jobs and an Arizona medical license. Hetzel was denied each opportunity and attributes each to the NPDB report.
He sued HCA for libel, dealing in bad faith, interfering with his future career opportunities and inflicting emotional distress.
Hetzel had already submitted his letter of resignation to HCA in February 2019, shortly after the for-profit HCA Healthcare bought Mission Hospital. His resignation would not become effective until July 2020. Hetzel’s Raleigh-based attorney, Cate Edwards, told the Citizen Times June 26, and continued to argue in legal filings, that Mission “effectively blackballed” Hetzel by filing the report.
HCA moved to dismiss Hetzel’s claim in a Sept. 25 motion and accompanying memo filed by Asheville-based attorney David Hawisher. HCA spokesperson Nancy Lindell did not have additional comment beyond the legal filing.
In the partially redacted legal filing, HCA argued that the NPDB report was accurate. It also argued that HCA was required by federal law to submit a report to the databased because Hetzel was in professional review for longer than 30 days. Hawisher argued that the hospital limited Hetzel’s privileges for 72 days, stretching from March 25, 2020, to June 5, 2020. HCA filed the report with the NPDB May 4, 2020.
Edwards disagreed in an Oct. 10 response, providing a three-pronged response to HCA’s argument about the veracity of the report.
She argued that Hetzel’s longest suspension lasted less 30 days in effect because his privileges were fully restored April 23, 2020, rather than June. Edwards also pointed out that HCA filed the report to the databank after Hetzel’s privileges were restored. Finally, she argued that the medical board and a peer review committee agreed that Hetzel’s portion of the surgery in question was successful, and he did not violate the standard of care.
“The NPDB report is knowingly false,” she wrote in her legal filing. “The house of cards that HCA Defendants have built in their Motion comes toppling down.”
After arguing that the report HCA filed was false, Edwards took aim at Hetzel’s former employer’s responsibility to correct the record, writing that HCA should have vacated the report once it learned that Hetzel was cleared. Edwards noted earlier in the response brief that reporting entities, like the hospital, are responsible for the accuracy of the reports filed to the NPDB, according to federal law.
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“When you’re seeking to dismiss a complaint at this early stage of litigation, you’re asking for the plaintiff to get no discovery, no process and no hearing of his claims,” Edwards told the Citizen Times Oct. 23. “That’s an extraordinary measure under the law. I don’t think that burden has been met to meet this extraordinary measure.”
“Dr. Hetzel can, should and will prevail on the merits. We haven’t gotten to the merits really.”
HCA has until Oct. 27 to respond to Edwards’ filing.
Mitchell Black covers Buncombe County and health care for the Citizen Times. Email him at mblack@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchABlack. Please help support local journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: 'Blackballed' doctor's lawyer: HCA's legal response 'house of cards'
