Semertzides v. Bethesda N. Hosp. – June 2014-2015 (Summary)

ANTITRUST/WHISTLEBLOWER/INTENTIONAL INFLICTION/HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Semertzides v. Bethesda N. Hosp., No. 1:14-CV-135 (S.D. Ohio June 9, 2014), aff’d, No. 14-3669 (6th Cir. June 4, 2015)

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio dismissed a surgeon’s antitrust, whistleblower, intentional infliction of emotional distress and hostile work environment claims which were filed against a hospital after it terminated the surgeon’s clinical privileges.

 The hospital’s surgical advisory committee raised questions about the surgeon’s competence that turned into an investigation and which ultimately led to his clinical privileges being terminated.  The surgeon filed a lawsuit, alleging, among other things, that the review committee was led by his competitors who wanted to eliminate him from competition.

 The court held that the surgeon’s antitrust claim failed because he did not state that the peer review process produced anticompetitive effects concerning a particular product or service, since the complaint discussed general surgical procedures and adhesion surgeries, but never specified the affected service.  The antitrust claim also failed because the surgeon did not define a relevant geographic market, since the claim addressed the county the hospital was located in, the tri-state area, and the entire United States, but never concluded which one was affected.

 The court also ruled that the whistleblower claim failed because it did not allege that the hospital had ever submitted a false claim to the government for payment, that the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim failed because the alleged conduct the hospital engaged in was not “extreme and outrageous…beyond all possible bounds of decency, and which is utterly intolerable in a civilized community” and that the hostile work environment claim failed because the surgeon’s complaint did not contain any allegations indicating that the hospital discriminated against him based on a protected characteristic.