Sparks Foundation hit with $1.3 million jury verdict (Updated)
by September 27, 2011 6:14 pm 1,400 views
The Sparks Medical Foundation has been hit with a more than $1.3 million jury verdict in a case dealing with managerial interference with Dr. Barry Uretsky, the former head of cardiology for Sparks Health System.
Uretsky was brought to Sparks Health System in 2007 to help the hospital revamp its cardiology department. In 2007, the hospital was one of just seven hospitals in the U.S. with a 30-day death rate from heart attack below the national average. In this February 2008 story in the Times Record, Uretsky said the hospital had improved the “door-to-balloon time” from an average of 130 minutes to the national rate of 90 minutes or less.
Bill Thompson, the Fort Smith attorney who represented Uretsky in the 6-day jury trial that ended Monday (Sept. 26), said Uretsky was hired by John Guest, the Sparks CEO who technically was employed by Brentwood, Tenn.-based Quorum Health Resources. At the time, the Sparks Foundation hired Quorum to provide management support for the financially-troubled hospital.
Two months after Uretsky was hired, Guest was terminated. Quorum replaced Guest with Ted Woodrell.
“And that’s when the problems began,” Thompson said during a Tuesday interview about the case.
According to Thompson, Woodrell was contractually prohibited from interfering in “credentialing or medical judgments.” However, Woodrell pressured Uretsky and the other physicians to hire a cardiologist “who had not conducted medicine in more than five years,” Thompson explained.
The working relationship never improved and hospital management began “ignoring his (Uretsky’s) medical recommendations,” Thompson said.
Uretsky left to work at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and the VA hospital in Little Rock. Thompson filed suit against the Foundation on behalf of Uretsky in March 2009.
UPDATED: Bruce Tidwell, an attorney with Little Rock-base Friday, Eldredge & Clark, who represented the Foundation, Sparks Health System and Woodrell, said the defendants are looking at their options on post-trial relief and appeal.
“There is just a lot to consider there,” Tidwell said in noting that his clients did not want to comment on the case until they reviewed their legal options.
Tidwell did say Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates, which bought Sparks Health System in late 2009, is not a defendant in the matter because it did not assume the ongoing legal matter when it bought the assets of the hospital.
Thompson said the jury verdict was $1,748,100, but reduced to $1,392,839 to adjust for the compensation Uretsky received from other sources during the length of his contract with Sparks. The jury also found that Woodrell was guilty of “tortious interference with contractual relations.”
The case was heard with Sebastian County Circuit Judge Stephen Tabor presiding.
Thompson, obviously, was pleased with the verdict.
“It was a very important case because it was one that concerned patient care and balancing that with profits. In other words, it was patient care versus profits,” Thompson said. “I think it is one of the most important cases in Arkansas.”
He also said it is unfortunate the region lost the benefit of having an “internationally known interventional cardiologist” working in a Fort Smith hospital. However, Thompson said Uretsky maintains a home in Fort Smith and hopes to retire in Fort Smith.
The defendants will have 30 days to appeal the decision once the formal order is issued. Thompson expects the order to be issued this week.