Miller v. Huron Reg’l Med. Ctr., Inc. (Summary)

NPDB REPORTING

Miller v. Huron Reg’l Med. Ctr., Inc., No. 12-4138-KES (D. S.D. Apr. 22, 2014)

The U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota dismissed a claim for tortious interference with business relationships and expectations that was brought by a general surgeon against the professional liability carrier of the hospital where she worked, in which the surgeon alleged that the professional liability carrier’s delay of almost four months in submitting the results of an external review regarding one of her cases resulted in the hospital reporting her to the National Practitioner Data Bank.

The court noted that, to survive dismissal, the surgeon was required to allege an intentional and unjustifiable act of interference by the professional liability carrier with respect to the contract between the surgeon and the hospital.  She failed to do this, instead claiming that the carrier had a duty to facilitate the external review in a reasonable and prudent manner (i.e., without negligence).