Ashraf v. Adventist Health Sys./Sunbelt, Inc. — July 2016 (Summary)

DEFAMATION BASED ON DATA BANK REPORT/STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

Ashraf v. Adventist Health Sys./Sunbelt, Inc.
No. 5D15-2415 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. July 1, 2016)

The Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal of a physician’s complaint for defamation against a hospital, based on a report the hospital filed with the National Practitioner Data Bank (“NPDB”).  The court also certified the question to the Florida Supreme Court as one of “great public importance.”

Underlying the claim for defamation was a decision by the hospital to revoke the physician’s clinical privileges.  Prior to the decision to revoke his privileges, there was an investigation which resulted in 20 factual findings against the physician.  These findings were upheld by a fair hearing panel and approved by the board of the hospital.  Shortly thereafter, as required by the Health Care Quality Improvement Act, the hospital filed a report with the NPDB.  In its report, the hospital cited, verbatim, to the 22 factual findings of the investigating committee.

Six years later, the physician filed a complaint against the hospital for defamation and injunctive relief, alleging that the NPDB report contained false and defamatory information that was the direct cause of the physician losing employment opportunities.  The hospital moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the two-year statute of limitations barred the physician’s claim.

The court ruled against the physician, reasoning that the two-year statute of limitation began to run when the report was issued to the NPDB and any issuance of the report to legally authorized entities did not start a new limitation period. Additionally, the court noted that not only did the NPDB send the physician a copy of his report, but also established internal protections whereby the physician could have filed an exception disputing the accuracy of the report’s content. Therefore, the physician had actual knowledge of the contents of the NPDB report well before the limitations period expired.  As a result, the court affirmed the lower court’s dismissal and certified an additional question to the Florida Supreme Court.