UT SOUTHWESTERN V. DR. LARRY M. GENTILELLO

This case has been going on for a while now.  The excerpt below is from a 12/18/09 decision of the Supreme Court of Texas: 

Dr. Larry M. Gentilello sued the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas under the Texas Whistleblower Act, alleging that he was demoted and stripped of two faculty chair positions for reporting violations of Medicare and Medicaid regulations to his supervisor. The Medical Center filed a plea to the jurisdiction, asserting that Gentilello’s claims were barred by governmental immunity because he failed to allege a violation under the Whistleblower Act.

Readers may get some good background from a 2007 story in the Dallas Morning News.  Dr. Gentilello alleges that he observed residents treating and performing surgery on patients from the poor side of town without an attending physician present.  That, of course, is a big Medicare no-no.  

Now the Texas Supremes have remanded the case back to the court of appeals to determine whether or not Dr. Gentilello reported the alleged violations to an appropriate law enforcement authority.  Many people believe that when they report situations to a supervisor, they are protected by the Whistleblower act.  It ain't necessarily so. . . .  

Do hospitals treat patients differently based on how much money they have?  Here's a story in the Dallas Morning News about UT Southwestern's VIP Program. 

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Comments

[Bob Contie]

How can this be when in good faith he reports the violation to his supervision and his boss? For the full blog story that is unfolding on this, you can read more at http://dallashealthcare.blogspot.com/

Most of us now believe he should have filed this case in Federal Court not the politically influenced Texas Court system.