Leadership | 02.04.20
SUNY Downstate Surgeons Say They Were Fired After Blowing the Whistle on Dangerous Conditions
by NAMSS Staff
Brooklyn Eagle (01/28/20) Frost, Mary
Dr. Rainer Gruessner, the former SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University chair of the Department of Surgery and Chief of Transplant, and surgeon Dr. John Renz claim they were fired in retaliation for voicing concerns about conditions in their departments. Gruessner and Renz both allege in lawsuits that negligent practices in the cardiothoracic surgery and intensive care units at SUNY Downstate hospital led to patient deaths and excessive transplant rejections. Gruessner said his vocal concerns led to his termination and the firings of his staff. He further charges that dangerous scheduling, staffing, and coverage policies contributed to at least three deaths. Renz, a member of Gruessner's team, alleges in his lawsuit that SUNY Downstate doctors engaged in irresponsibly lax habits. In the most extreme examples, a doctor had alcohol and drug paraphernalia in his office, while another left foreign objects inside the bodies of two patients after procedures.
Read the full article from the Brooklyn Eagle.