Opinion ID: 3015187
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Suspension of Gordon’s Medical-Dental

Text: Staff Privileges In 1995, the Hospital received complaints from elderly patients who related that Gordon had telephoned them and made disparaging comments about Nancollas, with whom they were then 5 To provide context, the Hospital chronicled a long history of disciplinary action regarding Gordon’s professional behavior, not his competence. The details regarding these actions are set forth in the District Court opinions. These prior incidents, beginning in 1985, pertained to Gordon’s disruptive behavior in using loud and profane language in public areas of the Hospital, verbally attacking other physicians within the Intensive Care Unit, yelling at a nurse who had witnessed his disruptive behavior, and telephoning a patient at her home regarding her decision to treat with another ophthalmologist. In 1992, Gordon verbally attacked a nurse in the Hospital’s emergency department and received a 28-day suspension. See Gordon v. Lewistown Hospital, 714 A.2d 539 (Pa. Cmwlth. Ct. 1998). 8 treating. Hospital counsel twice wrote to Gordon’s counsel warning that any additional complaints of this nature would trigger an investigation of Gordon’s conduct. Despite this, Gordon called additional patients complaining about their decision to use Nancollas. By November of 1995, Gordon’s harassing telephone calls to patients were addressed by the Hospital Credentials Committee, which determined that Gordon should be suspended for forty-five days and that his reappointment application should be postponed until after he had served the suspension. Gordon requested a hearing and was represented by counsel. Prior to the hearing, the Hospital received additional complaints regarding Gordon’s conduct. As a result, Gordon was summarily suspended on April 19, 1996, pending completion of the hearing and any resultant appeals regarding the forty-five day suspension. At the conclusion of a three-day hearing, the forty-five day suspension was upheld. The Hearing Officer found that: (1) Gordon precipitated a confrontation involving Geisinger between himself and Dr. Quereshi (a Geisinger physician) on June 19, 1995, in the presence of a patient; (2) the confrontation and its effects were “unacceptable and disruptive”; and (3) Gordon’s concerns about Geisinger and medical economics did not excuse such conduct. The Hearing Officer also found that Gordon had expressed himself to a nurse in an unacceptable manner when he stated that she “didn’t give a damn about the patients,” “is a trouble maker and always has been” and that “you are all assholes.” The Hearing Officer concluded that whether Gordon’s concerns were real or perceived, he addressed them inappropriately. At the hearing, there also was testimony regarding Gordon’s telephone calls to Nancollas’s cataract patients during the period of June 1994 to April 1995, some of which were made the night before the patients were to undergo cataract surgery. Although Gordon recognized that his calls could increase patient anxiety, he nonetheless placed the calls to warn the patients about Nancollas. 9 The Hearing Officer concluded that the calls showed extremely poor judgment and cruelty towards patients. Gordon never appealed the Hearing Officer’s decision to the Hospital’s Appeal Review Panel.