Ortho Surgeons Sue Cedars-Sinai

Orthopedic surgeons Ronald S. Kvitne, M.D. and Daniel Kharrazi, M.D. have filed a lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and associated organizations.

Drs. Kvitne and Kharrazi claim the issues began in 2014 when Cedars-Sinai entered into an affiliation with the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic (KJOC). The surgeons claim that Cedars-Sinai wanted to take Kerlan-Jobe’s celebrity athlete clients. By 2024, Drs. Kvitne and Kharrazi assert that Cedars-Sinai had recruited nearly all of KJOC’s physicians and this purported hostile takeover led to alleged discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and impact on patient care.

In the complaint, Drs. Kvitne and Kharrazi assert that they faced “adverse employment actions.” The surgeons claim that the defendants used their control over critical aspects of the surgeons’ employment to “redirect patients” away from the surgeons, “obstruct their treatment efforts, force them out of their facility, not provide them with access to other facilities,” and other actions.

The complaint includes 10 claims detailing the alleged hostile work environment and purported unlawful treatment the orthopedic surgeons suffered as physicians within the Cedars-Kerlan Jobe partnership. In the complaint, Drs. Kvitne and Kharrazi allege the following:

• Sex/gender discrimination
• Sex/gender harassment
• Discrimination based on age, disability and associational disability
• Harassment based on age, disability and associational disability
• Retaliation
• Failure to prevent discrimination, harassment or retaliation
• Whistleblower retaliation
• Intentional infliction of emotional distress
• Defamation
• Self-coerced defamation

The lawsuit names the following as defendants: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; Cedars-Sinai Medical Care Foundation; Institute for Sports Sciences LLC; ISS ASC Holdings, LLC; Santa Monica Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Group, a medical corporation; Cedars-Sinai Surgery Center of the Pacific; Kerlan-Jobe Surgery Center, LLC (KJSC); Jill Martin; Mark Vrahas, M.D.; Richard Jacobs; Bert Mandelbaum, M.D.; Thomas Priselac; Peter Slavin, M.D.; and additional unnamed individuals.

Drs. Kvitne and Kharrazi filed the lawsuit in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles, Central District. The surgeons and organizations have been involved in a number of legal actions this year. For OTW’s coverage see Did Kerlan-Jobe’s Lawyers Betray their Famous Client? and Cedars Sinai Hit With $150M Lawsuit.