Hospital Malpractice: Failure to Terminate a Negligent Physician

Attorney Jason Matzus is pursing a case against Steward Sharon Regional Hospital located in Sharon, Mercer County, Pennsylvania on behalf of a widow and her children as a result of surgical malpractice while performing cardiac bypass surgery on a patient.

Sharon Hospital is owned by Steward Health Care, which is the largest private, for-profit hospital operator in the United States. The executives at both Sharon Hospital and the parent corporation, Steward Health Care, knew that this newly hired cardiac surgeon was grossly incompetent and exercised poor medical decision-making, and possessed poor surgical skills; yet, they failed to take any disciplinary action against the newly hired cardiac surgeon, or monitor the surgical performance and patient outcomes of the surgeries, until after the death of Attorney Matzus’ client’s husband.

Another cardiac surgeon (a “whistleblower”), who was a long-standing member of the medical staff and highly respected in the medical community, sounded alarm bells with the appropriate executives at Sharon Regional Hospital and the parent corporation, Steward Health Care, that the newly hired cardiac surgeon was incompetent, exercised poor medical decision-making and exercised poor and dangerous surgical techniques on patients. Before Attorney Matzus’ client’s husband was killed, according to the “whistleblower”, the newly hired surgeon had other patients die because of surgical malpractice and had other patients who suffered preventable significant complications because of poor decision-making and dangerous surgical techniques. The “whistleblower” cardiac surgeon did everything right to alert both the hospital’s executives and the parent corporation’s executives that the cardiac surgeon was a clear and present danger to patient safety. The hospital and parent corporation ignored his complaints and failed to take timely action to prevent the dangerous surgeon from operating on patients. Rather than address the patient safety concerns raised by medical staff about the surgeon, according to the “whistleblower”, the hospital engaged in a pattern of retaliatory conduct toward him that resulted in his termination because of his willingness and courage to speak the truth.

The general claims for hospital malpractice include the hospital’s failure to appropriately “vet” or screen a cardiac surgeon before hiring; their failure to take prompt and timely action once they became aware that the cardiac surgeon was injuring and killing patients because of the surgeon’s poor medical decision-making and dangerous surgical techniques. Steward Sharon Regional Health System and Steward Health Care waited too long to take action and their delay allowed the surgeon to continue operating long after the surgeon should have been prevented from operating on patients. As a result, the surgeon was permitted to operate on Attorney Matzus’ client’s husband and the surgeon’s poor decision-making and dangerous surgical techniques caused his death.