Jury awards surgeon more than $1M in sham peer review case

A federal jury has awarded a former Huron surgeon more than $1.1 million after finding that her former employer breached her contract.

The award comes more than six years after Dr. Linda Miller was forced to submit her resignation to the Huron Regional Medical Center. Miller had been employed at the center starting in 2004 as a contract surgeon and later, in 2006, as a staff doctor.

As part of her contract with the clinic, Miller was afforded certain due process rights under the clinic’s bylaws when it came to disciplinary proceedings. The jury found that the clinic violated those rights.

“It’s a victory for the jury process,” said Ken Barker, a lawyer with the Barker Wilson Law Firm in Belle Fourche who represented Miller. “Everything that took place in the Huron Regional Medical Center was behind closed doors. Everything that took place was in secret.”

Under South Dakota law, medical peer review hearings are secret, and the materials generated can’t be used in lawsuits against health providers.

Miller was the subject of the medical peer review process while employed at Huron Regional Medical Center when three doctors reviewed the outcomes of some of her cases. She was not allowed to participate in the process, contrary to the clinic’s bylaws, and Barker said the clinic’s board of directors manipulated the peer review process so they could get rid of Miller.

“She was excluded from the process and it was, either do this, or you’ll be fired,” Barker said.

Although she was not allowed to participate or defend herself, Miller agreed to voluntarily reduce her privileges. The clinic then reported that voluntary reduction to a national database that tracks disciplinary proceedings against doctors. The lawsuit alleged that the clinic intentionally falsified an alleged complication with one of Miller’s patients.

A second report was made to the national database based upon the falsified complication. Miller was told that she could either resign or be fired.

Because of the reports to the national database, Miller was unable to find employment as a general surgeon. She is currently employed as a wound care doctor, which pays less than she would have made as a general surgeon.

Although the jury ruled that Huron Regional Medical Center breached Miller’s contract, the jury did not find that the clinic committed defamation by reporting her to the national database. Had it done so, the clinic could have faced even steeper damages.

Miller first filed suit in 2013. Her first trial started in December, but Judge Karen Schreier ordered a mistrial after a juror died during the proceeding. Lawyers for Huron Regional Medical Center tried unsuccessfully to have the courtroom closed to the public.