Abrams v. Baylor College of Medicine

581 F. Supp. 1570, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18931, 34 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 34,303, 34 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 229
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Texas
DecidedMarch 5, 1984
DocketCiv. A. H-81-1433, H-82-3253
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 581 F. Supp. 1570 (Abrams v. Baylor College of Medicine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abrams v. Baylor College of Medicine, 581 F. Supp. 1570, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18931, 34 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 34,303, 34 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 229 (S.D. Tex. 1984).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

DeANDA, District Judge.

This cause having been tried upon the facts without a jury, the Court hereby enters the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, pursuant to Rule 52(a), F.R.Civ.P.

*1572 FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The Plaintiffs are licensed physicians who have been employed by the Defendant Baylor College of Medicine (“Baylor”) as anesthesiologists during periods of time which are material to this lawsuit.

2. Plaintiff Lawrence Abrams (“Abrams”) began employment for Baylor at the Fondren-Brown Cardiovascular Unit of the Methodist Hospital (“FondrenBrown”) on July 16, 1978. Abrams resigned from this position effective October 30, 1980. Since that time, he has held employment as an Associate Professor of Clinical Anesthesiology and Director of Cardio-Thoracic Anesthesiology at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York.

3. Plaintiff Stuart Linde (“Linde”) began employment for Baylor at FondrenBrown on September 1, 1979, and is still employed by Baylor as an anesthesiologist.

4. Both Plaintiffs have been employed by Defendant under the title of Assistant Professor, Department of Anesthesiology while working for Baylor at FondrenBrown.

5. Baylor is a large non-profit, private medical institution located in Houston, Texas, which employs several hundred people, including physicians and support staff personnel.

6. Baylor provides anesthesiology staffing at four hospital facilities in Houston, namely Ben Taub Hospital, Jefferson Davis Hospital, the Veterans Administration Hospital, and Fondren-Brown. All anesthesiologists assigned to these hospitals hold faculty positions at Baylor.

7. Fondren-Brown is among the world’s foremost cardiovascular surgical units. Such cardiovascular luminaries as Dr. Michael DeBakey perform advanced techniques, including open-heart surgery, at Fondren-Brown. Of the four hospitals staffed by Baylor, the level of cardiovascular work is most intense at Fondren-Brown.

8. A typical operating room team for cardiovascular surgery at Fondren-Brown consists of a surgeon, an assistant surgeon, scrub and circulating nurses, an anesthesiologist, an assistant anesthesiologist, and if a heart-lung machine is in use, a perfusionist. The surgeons, anesthesiologists, and perfusionists are Baylor employees while the nurses are employees of Methodist Hospital who are subject to the direction and supervision of Baylor faculty.

9. The surgery performed at FondrenBrown is fee-generating. Baylor anesthesiologists receive a portion of these fees as part of their overall compensation. The. precise ratio of “regular” salary and fee-sharing for individual anesthesiologists is set by the Chairman of the Baylor Anesthesiology Department, subject to the approval of Baylor’s President.

10. In the summer of 1976, members of the Baylor faculty, including Dr. Michael DeBakey, were approached by the Hospital Corporation International (“HCI”) regarding a rotation program in which Baylor would send cardiovascular surgical teams to the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (“King Faisal”) located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

11. A study group of Baylor faculty, including Drs. Arthur Beall (a surgeon) and Sharon Storey (an anesthesiologist), conducted a feasibility study regarding the King Faisal program. This study included an on-site inspection and eventually gave rise to extended negotiations which ultimately culminated in a Memorandum of Agreement, dated October 1, 1977, between Baylor and the King Faisal hospital (“the Agreement”).

12. The King Faisal hospital is owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and has been managed during all material time periods by HCI.

13. Under the Agreement, Baylor received a cash advance to initiate the program and hire replacements for personnel who would be absent due to the rotations. Baylor began sending cardiovascular surgical teams to King Faisal on a rotating basis shortly thereafter. The first such rotation lasted from May 15, 1978 to August 15, 1978.

14. The rotating teams consist of surgeons, anesthesiologists and various oper *1573 ating room personnel (similar to a typical surgical team at Fondren-Brown).

15. No specific salaries for the Baylor team members are set by the Agreement. Instead, Baylor sets these compensation levels based on what appear (to Baylor administrators) to be sufficient amounts of pay to induce adequate participation in the program.

16. The Agreement provides maximum amounts which are to be reimbursed to Baylor by the Saudis. These amounts are comprised of three categories of reimbursement: (1) “direct costs,” which include salaries and benefits; (2) “reimbursables,” which include air travel expenses, travel allowances and a per diem schedule for travel time; and (3) “indirect costs,” which represent a large percentage of the costs incurred by Baylor in maintaining and administering the program. Under the terms of the Agreement, as amended, the maximum amounts paid by the Saudis to Baylor have increased by 10% for each twelvemonth period, beginning with the October, 1981 — October, 1982 period. In essence, the Saudis have provided the source of funding for the King Faisal program, and based on the evidence adduced at trial, this funding has been forthcoming in handsome amounts.

17. Participants in the King Faisal program must travel and remain in Saudi Arabia for at least three consecutive months. Participants must secure entry and exist visas from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

18. The salary levels set by Baylor for its anesthesiologists who participate in the program are attractive. The initial salary level for the senior anesthesiologist position was set by Dr. Arthur Beall, who was designated by Dr. DeBakey (President of Baylor at that time) to administer and oversee the King Faisal program. Dr. Beall set the salary levels based largely on the recommendations of Dr. Sharon Storey. Dr. Storey’s figures were predicated on the lowest compensation amounts that would induce a substantial number of Baylor anesthesiology faculty members to take rotations in the program. In fact, the annualized salary levels for anesthesiologists participating in the program have been at least twice the salary levels for anesthesiologists working for Baylor in Houston.

19. The annualized compensation level for anesthesiologists participating in the King Faisal program in 1978 was approximately $250,000. In 1979, this level rose to $300,000. By 1981, the level of compensation had risen to $350,000, and by 1982, the level of pay was $400,000.

20. As alluded to above, travel expenses of participants are reimbursed by the Saudis. Further, each participant receives ten days of paid administrative leave from Baylor as a fringe benefit. While in Saudi Arabia, Baylor personnel are provided modest but adequate living quarters at a guarded compound near the King Faisal hospital. Baylor personnel are afforded transportation to and from the hospital, if they choose to utilize it. All personnel are free to come and go while residing in the compound.

21.

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581 F. Supp. 1570, 1984 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18931, 34 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 34,303, 34 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 229, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abrams-v-baylor-college-of-medicine-txsd-1984.