The 2015 case of an orthopedic surgeon alleging wrongful termination from Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital after raising issue with the hospital's concurrent surgery policies has taken another turn.
The Boston Globe reported that Suffolk Superior Court Judge Rosemary Connolly ordered the hospital to make public a copy of a report written by a lawyer hired by the hospital to investigate its concurrent surgeries. Judge Connolly specified that the report must be unredacted.
The orthopedic surgeon, Dennis Burke, MD, had practiced at Mass General for 35 years before his dismissal in 2015. The hospital contends his dismissal occurred because he improperly released patient records to the press, while Dr. Burke alleges Mass General fired him because he "blew the whistle" on concurrent surgeries.
Four years earlier, the hospital had hired an attorney to investigate the concurrent surgeries as a result of Dr. Burke's complaints, and said that the report did not find basis for his concerns. However, the hospital never made the report public.