Suspended doctor sues UMC

A Las Vegas physician has filed a federal lawsuit against University Medical Center, alleging that the county hospital that barred him from practicing as a trauma surgeon because he might pose an "unreasonable danger" to patients and staff has violated his constitutional rights and antitrust laws.

In conjunction with the lawsuit filed last week on behalf of Dr. James Tate that asks for unspecified economic damages, a motion for a preliminary injunction was also filed, asking the court to require UMC to lift the Aug. 8 restriction of Tate from the trauma on-call schedule.

Jacob L. Hafter, Tate's attorney, said Monday that he is hopeful that a hearing on the request for injunctive relief will be held in October.

Tate is alleged to have became involved in an Aug. 5 physical confrontation with family members of a UMC patient. On Aug. 8, hospital CEO Kathleen Silver asked trauma services director Dr. John J. Fildes to remove Tate from the trauma department call schedule because he might pose an "unreasonable danger to UMC patients, visitors, employees and medical staff."

Because Tate did not receive a hearing before his indefinite suspension from trauma call took place, his constitutional right of due process was violated, the suit argues.

Hafter said antitrust laws also were broken by UMC administrators who oversee the only Level 1 trauma center in Nevada -- what Hafter calls a monopoly. By "capriciously" removing Dr. Tate from the trauma on-call schedule, "UMC's administrators terminated Dr. Tate's ability to work in Nevada as a Level 1 trauma surgeon," Hafter said.

"Not only did they violate the antitrust laws ... they violated their own bylaws and governing rules," Hafter said.

On advice of the district attorney's office, UMC spokesman Rick Plummer said Monday that the hospital will not discuss specific allegations of the lawsuit.

"Dr. Tate rejected UMC's offer of a simple pathway back to reinstatement to the call schedule at the trauma center through ... anger management (classes)," Plummer said. "Rather than resolve the situation, Dr. Tate has again chosen to escalate matters by filing suit against UMC."

Tate, who has worked at UMC for more than 20 years, earns the majority of his income from working as a trauma surgeon, according to the lawsuit.

UMC administrators have not removed Tate from the general surgery on-call schedule.

"If they were truly concerned about my ability to control myself with patients and their families, why did they continue to let me operate on and treat patients (as part of the general surgery on call schedule)?" Tate said in a prepared statement. "Knowing that I receive over 65 percent of my income from working as a trauma surgeon, the only real reason they could have had for the actions they took was economic."

Tate refused to answer questions Monday.

In August, Tate told the Review-Journal that a bogus fear of violence is being used by UMC to cover the hospital's real reason for "going after" him, which is his outspoken criticism of Dr. Dipak Desai, whose clinics have been linked to a cluster of hepatitis C cases in Southern Nevada.

Tate said UMC administrators have "long loved" Desai, whose gastroenterology group received a $1 million contract in 2007 to direct UMC's gastroenterology department, more than quadruple the $210,000 it had received for the same work at UMC in 2006.

UMC in March canceled its contract with Desai.

During the Aug. 5 confrontation at the hospital, officials say Tate got into an argument with a man who didn't agree with the treatment the surgeon was giving his son.

They had a heated exchange that included profanities.

The two were "chest to chest" when the boy's grandmother got between them, the hospital's public safety officers wrote in report.

"Doctor Tate told her to step away and raised his hands to gain distance between himself and the two visitors," the report states, adding that the grandmother said that when Tate "pushed her way, he caused a scratch on her sternum."

The August scuffle isn't the only time Tate was involved in a confrontation.

In 2003, he punched a woman in the back of the head as her back was turned in a Radio Shack following an argument that began when Tate was trying to return a cell phone battery. He was fined $1,300 on a conviction of misdemeanor battery.

Tate has said he believes UMC is factoring in the past incident in the current action against him.

But Plummer said Monday that the August incident "stands on its own."

Hafter, however, said Monday that he believes that there is no way Tate's involvement in the August scuffle rises to the level of a suspension from trauma duties.

He said he believes the institution was looking for a reason to take action against Tate.

Tate told the Review-Journal in August that he has long had a rocky relationship with UMC.

In the 1990s, he filed a federal lawsuit against the hospital, alleging that UMC rejected him for the position of trauma department director because he is black. He lost.

Contact reporter Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2908.