Badri v. Huron Hosp. (Summary)

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

Badri v. Huron Hosp., 691 F. Supp. 2d 744 (N.D. Ohio 2010)

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio granted summary judgment to a hospital on a slew of claims brought by a general surgeon whose privileges had been revoked and who had been terminated from its medical staff. After a car accident, the physician suffered neck pain and migraines. He began to self-medicate with steroids, leading to drug abuse. Staff members reported several incidents in which he had criticized hospital administration, sought confidential information about another physician, harshly chastised a resident, and discussed a patient’s drug abuse in front of hospital staff and patients.

In response, the medical executive committee (“MEC”) sent a letter to the physician, notifying him of its investigation of the complaints, asking him to sign a code of conduct, and asking that he undergo a mandatory psychological evaluation. The physician sent two letters in response, neither of which requested any accommodation. In fact, one stated that the physician had Cushing’s Syndrome but was adequately coping with his impairment.

Subsequently, negative outcomes and the physician’s failure to sign the code of conduct led to the suspension of his endoscopic privileges. However, he then signed the code and submitted to the evaluation. The evaluating doctor found that the physician was not chemically dependent and was not psychologically impaired from performing his duties.

However, the physician had another incident of disruptive behavior, which violated the code of conduct. After a committee considered options for further steps and met with the physician and his counsel, it recommended that his clinical privileges be permanently revoked. The MEC accepted the committee’s recommendation. At the physician’s requested hearing, the decision of the MEC was affirmed.

The physician brought several claims against the hospital. First, he brought claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, pursuing both disparate treatment and failure to accommodate claims. The court granted summary judgment on these claims to the hospital, finding that the physician’s Cushing’s Syndrome, Dysthymic Disorder, neck pain, migraines and depressions constituted impairments but did not substantially limit any of his daily activities. Second he brought several state law claims. However, finding that the hospital had immunity under Health Care Quality Improvement Act, the court granted summary judgment to the hospital on all of the physician’s state law claims. (Kelsey)