Alba v. Marietta Memorial Hospital

184 F.R.D. 280, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14349, 1998 WL 954872
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedSeptember 10, 1998
DocketNo. 94CV00524
StatusPublished

This text of 184 F.R.D. 280 (Alba v. Marietta Memorial Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alba v. Marietta Memorial Hospital, 184 F.R.D. 280, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14349, 1998 WL 954872 (S.D. Ohio 1998).

Opinion

[282]*282 OPINION AND ORDER

MARBLEY, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the Court on both of Defendants’ Motions for Summary Judgment (docs. 90, 91). Plaintiff, Dr. Joseph C. Alba, M.D., alleges that Defendants, Dr. Gregory B. Krivchenia, Sr., M.D., and Marietta Memorial Hospital, violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, in restricting Plaintiffs surgical privileges through the formal peer review process. In addition, Plaintiff has brought eight state law claims against Defendants which arise out of the same alleged wrongful conduct. Oral argument on the Motions was held on February 20, 1998. The Plaintiff was subsequently granted leave to file a surreply and to supplement the record for summary judgment purposes (doc. 146), the Defendants responded (doc. 147), and the Motions are again now ripe. This Court issued an earlier Interim Order on May 7, 1998, and now issues its Final Opinion and Order in this matter.

II. BACKGROUND

A. General Overview

Plaintiff, Dr. Jose C. Alba, M.D., (“Alba”), first began working at Defendant, Marietta Memorial Hospital (“MMH”), in Marietta, Ohio in 1972. He was granted full surgical privileges in 1973. He practiced exclusively at MMH as a general surgeon. Due to a surgical complication in 1976, however, Alba’s surgical privileges were temporarily restricted for about one year. Again in 1983, Alba’s surgical privileges were temporarily restricted. The temporary nature of this second restriction later became contingent upon Alba becoming Board certified in general surgery.

The Board of Trustees’ decision to impose temporary restrictions on . Alba’s surgical privileges until he became Board certified was the ultimate result of the peer review process at MMH. This process involved several committees of doctors reviewing various complications that Alba had had in his surgical practice. Dr. Gregory B. Krivchenia, Sr., M.D. (“Krivchenia”) a Board Certified orthopaedic surgeon and chairman of the medical staff Credential Committee at that time, became aware of these complications and was instrumental in this process. Alba had an initial hearing regarding the restriction of his privileges and an appellate review hearing. In addition, Alba was represented by counsel in preparation for and at the appellate review hearing in 1984.

Nine years later, in 1993, Alba was allegedly told by a doctor at MMH, who had reviewed the available documents from the 1984 peer review process, that there were discrepancies in the record, or that a fraud had been committed against him during the process. ■ Alba suspected an anti-competitive purpose. Plaintiff again retained counsel and filed his Complaint on June 9, 1994. He alleges that the restriction of his surgical privileges at MMH was a part of a greater anticompetitive conspiracy to oust older, generalist physicians like him through the fraudulent subversion of the peer review process, so that younger specialists with greater revenue-generating abilities (such as board-certified orthopedists) could be substituted in their place. He also alleges that the marketplace was injured in that it was suffering from a low supply of orthopedic services, and that Dr. Krivchenia succeeded in monopolizing the market. Finally, Alba alleges that the restrictions imposed upon him by MMH in 1983-84 essentially ruined his practice.

B. Statement of Facts

Dr. Alba first began work as a general surgeon at MMH in 1972. In May 1976, Dr. Alba’s privileges at MMH were restricted and he was required to have consultation for all major surgical cases. These restrictions, however, were lifted after less than a year. In March 1983, an Ad Hoc Committee of general surgeons, appointed by the chief of surgery, recommended that Alba’s privileges again be restricted. On March 28, 1983, the recommended restrictions were imposed by MMH’s Executive Committee. The restrictions required that he be monitored by a qualified general surgeon for every major surgical procedure he performed. The restrictions were to be in place for approximately a year until reappointments to the [283]*283Hospital’s 1984 staff membership were made. Plaintiff did not contest these restrictions.

The Medical Staff Executive Committee, the Credentials Committee, and the Ad Hoc Committee of general surgeons reviewed the restrictions on Dr. Alba’s privileges again in September 1983, so that a recommendation could be made with regard to Alba’s 1984 surgical staff privileges. On October 4, 1983, the Ad Hoc Committee recommended that the restrictions remain in place. However, the specific restrictions recommended by the Committee at that time amounted to what Plaintiff calls “some loosening” of the restrictions imposed in March 1983. On the same date, the Credentials Committee recommended that the restrictions remain, but again, in Plaintiffs terms, its recommendation resulted in “some loosening” of the restrictions imposed in March 1983.

On November 15,1983, at a meeting of the Executive Committee, Dr. Krivchenia allegedly falsely reported that the Credentials Committee believed Dr. Alba “lacked surgical judgment” and good surgical technique, and that he should therefore lose his major surgical privileges altogether. In addition, the Executive Committee was allegedly never told about what Plaintiff calls the more favorable reports from the Ad Hoc Committee or the Credentials Committee.

On November 28, 1983, Alba was notified of the Executive Committee’s recommendations, which were largely consistent with both the Ad Hoc and Credentials Committees’ recommendations — a temporary restriction in major surgical privileges with certain exceptions. However, the Executive Committee added to its recommendation to the Board of Trustees that the restrictions not be lifted until Dr. Alba became Board certified in general surgery.

On December 7, 1983, Alba requested an appellate hearing and requested that members of the original Ad Hoc Committee be included on his Hearing Panel. His request was denied, however, and the Panel was made up of seven disinterested physicians, who were not in direct economic competition with Alba, and, therefore, were not general surgeons. Plaintiff did not object any further to the composition of the panel. The denial of Alba’s request was based upon an outdated set of by-laws (1979). The by-laws actually in force at the time (adopted in September, 1982) required one member of the original Ad Hoc Committee and one member of the Executive Committee to serve on the appellate Hearing Panel. The 1979 by-laws, however, required that the Panel be composed of disinterested physicians. In all other respects, the procedures outlined in the 1979 version of the bylaws were equivalent to the by-laws adopted in September, 1982.

On January 3,1984, Alba received a “bill of particulars” from MMH, which included information regarding eight surgical cases that would be in question at the Hearing Panel. On January 12, 1984, Alba’s hearing before the Hearing Panel took place. Dr. Krivchenia allegedly informed the Hearing Panel that eight separate cases were reviewed by the Executive Committee, as well as the chief of surgery, and the Credentials Committee, in making their recommendations. Plaintiff alleges that this representation was false, and that only Dr. -Krivchenia had reviewed the eight cases.

Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
184 F.R.D. 280, 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14349, 1998 WL 954872, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alba-v-marietta-memorial-hospital-ohsd-1998.