How bad was the rift between hospital officials at the University of Illinois at Chicago and its one-time chief of surgery? So bad that when the hospital heard that both it and colorectal surgeon Herand Abcarian, MD, were about to be sued for malpractice for the death of one of his patients, the hospital settled with the plaintiff's son for $950,000 - without letting Dr. Abcarian know. According to court documents, the university specifically instructed the plaintiff's attorney to individually sue Dr. Abcarian and not serve him. The hospital then reported Dr. Abcarian to the state medical board and the National Practitioner Data Bank. Dr. Abcarian went to court to take his name off the settlement, but was prevented from doing so.
All of this and more is detailed in court records. Dr. Abcarian, MD, an outspoken critic of university authorities over such issues as risk management, faculty recruitment and faculty compensation, only found out about the settlement a few months later, when he was asked to verify the reports, according to his attorney, Joseph M. O'Callaghan. Dr. Abcarian refused to deal with the reports, stating that he had not been involved in the settlement.
Dr. Abcarian filed lawsuits in both the state and federal courts, alleging that the settlement didn't apply to him because he did not sign it. He wanted the courts to nullify the settlement and return the payment to the university, but the courts refused to do so. "The fact that Abcarian was a third-party beneficiary to the settlement agreement rather than an actual signatory does not render the settlement a nullity," the federal appeals decision stated.
Mr. O'Callaghan asserts the university used the settlement as a pretext to report Dr. Abcarian to the NPDB. "This was a conspiracy to defame Dr. Abcarian," he says. But the federal appeals court reacted with disbelief, suggesting that almost $1 million seemed to be too high a price to settle an academic feud.
The university refused to withdraw its reports to the state and the NPDB. Mr. O'Callaghan says Dr. Abcarian then filed a separate lawsuit against university officials in state court and it was settled confidentially at the end of 2011. The attorney acknowledges the case was settled to Dr. Abcarian's satisfaction and involved a substantial amount. Richard P. Steinken, an attorney for the university, declined to comment.
In 1991, Dr. Abcarian became the first U.S. physician to obtain an endowed chair in colon and rectal surgery when the University of Illinois at Chicago appointed him as the Turi Josefsen Professor.
Leigh Page
