Ahmed v. Tex. Tech Univ. Health Sci. Ctr. — Jan. 2013 (Summary)

WHISTLEBLOWER

Ahmed v. Tex. Tech Univ. Health Sci. Ctr.
No. 07-11-00176 (Tex. App. Jan. 23, 2013)

The Court of Appeals of Texas dismissed a lawsuit brought by a physician against the medical school where he had served as an assistant professor of surgery and his supervisor, alleging that he was forced to resign in retaliation for reporting his concerns regarding a new surgeon’s credentials.  The court noted that the medical school, as a state institution, was entitled to sovereign immunity from suit, unless a specific exception to the immunity applied.  The court rejected the physician’s claim that he fell within the protections of the Texas Whistleblower Act, which provides an exception to sovereign immunity.  In support of its conclusion, the court noted that the physician could not have reasonably believed he was reporting a violation of the law to an appropriate law enforcement authority when he alerted two private hospitals and his supervisor of his concern that the new surgeon was misrepresenting her credentials.  The court also rejected the notion that hospital credentials and peer review committees were extensions of the state board of medicine because they were required to make certain reports to the board.