Four wrongful termination lawsuits covered by Becker's Spine Review in the past year:
1. Robert Handy, MD, filed a wrongful termination complaint against his former employer May 31, 2019. He alleged the defendants, which include Doylestown, Pa.-based Bucks County Orthopedic Specialists and its physician shareholders, violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and Pennsylvania Military Affairs Act.
2. Two surgeons formerly employed at Children's Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha, Neb., filed a retaliation lawsuit against the hospital in January 2019. The surgeons — a neurosurgeon and a plastic surgeon — alleged that they were fired after reporting concerns about patient safety. As of July 2019, the case was still pending.
3. Dennis Burke, MD, a former orthopedic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, was awarded a $13 million settlement in November 2019 after his wrongful termination lawsuit. The suit alleged that Dr. Burke was terminated in 2015 for challenging the hospital's policy on concurrent surgeries.
4. Neurosurgeon Wilson Asfora, MD, sued Sanford Health in February, alleging that the Sioux Falls-based system wrongfully terminated him to settle a government whistleblower case.