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Appeals court overturns ruling in Poliner v. Texas Health Systems

Credentialing & Verification Update, August 5, 2008

A federal appeals court in Texas has reversed a jury decision awarding over $30 million to Lawrence R. Poliner, MD, an interventional cardiologist who alleged that the hospital and another physician improperly restricted his privileges.

Following several incidents involving misdiagnoses and missed diagnoses, the hospital held Poliner's cardiac catheterization privileges in abeyance while investigating the physician's treatment of 44 patients. Upon completing the review, the hospital suspended Poliner's privileges for a period of five months.

Poliner sued the hospital, as well as the physician leading the peer review, asserting state and federal law violations. An initial ruling found that the hospital was immune from damages resulting from the suspension of privileges, but awarded Poliner over $200 million in damages relating to the period in which his privileges were held in abeyance to continue. The court later reduced those damages to about $30 million.

The appeals court overturned the award, however, noting that the hospital putting Poliner's privileges into abeyance pending investigation was, like the suspension, undertaken with the reasonable belief that it would promote quality health care.

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