Chillicothe, Ohio-based Adena Health System has filed a lawsuit against surgeons Brian Cohen, M.D., Aaron Roberts, M.D., and James Thompson, D.O. as well as several other defendants.
3 Surgeons Entangled in Bitter Health System Lawsuit
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The lawsuit alleges the surgeons, who were previously employed at Adena Bone and Joint Center, breached their employment contracts and misused confidential information. Adena Health System is seeking up to $125,000 in damages.
Adena Health System has three Ohio-based hospitals in Chillicothe, Waverly, and Greenfield as well as six regional clinics. According to its website, its services include “heart health, cancer diagnosis and treatment, women’s health, children’s health and orthopedics.”
It is currently constructing the Adena Orthopedic and Spine Institute, scheduled to open this September. The 111,000-square-foot structure will provide services such as orthopedics, sports medicine, and neurology.
Drs. Cohen, Roberts, and Thompson, along with five others, left Adena Health System earlier this year. The lawsuit alleges that the surgeons tried to get others to leave Adena Health System earlier in the year/late last year.
In response, the three orthopedic surgeons have filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings. In the motion, the orthopedic surgeons request that the court rule in their favor based on the pleadings on file.
The orthopedic surgeons claim that Adena Health System does not have a “single viable cause of action under Ohio law.” Their motion also claims that Adena Health System failed to point out an example of their alleged actions causing physicians to leave the health system.
The three orthopedic surgeons have also countered Adena Health System’s lawsuit. In their countersuit, the orthopedic surgeons make 14 claims.
The surgeons allege that Adena Health System breached their employment contracts, retaliated against them, and acted in violation of antitrust laws. In support of the retaliation claim, Dr. Cohen claims that in June 2020 he lost his medical director position because he made complaints against the administration.
The litigation is just starting to heat up. OTW will continue to monitor the lawsuit.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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