Hospital management standing behind surgeon

Dr. Keith Ash submitted his resignation from the medical center staff June 9; the next day the hospital was served with a malpractice lawsuit filed by four of Ash’s former patients.

The issue came up at Monday’s meeting of the BJC Medical Center Authority, the board that manages the medical center.

“It was just bad timing that he resigned on Monday and we were served notice of the suit on Tuesday,” commented Jim Yarborough, CEO of the medical center.

According to Yarborough, officials had known for some time that Ash wanted to relocate to a larger community where he could be part of a group. At BJC, he was a sole practitioner, subject to being on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Yarborough called the allegations against the hospital “without merit,” and said the authority’s attorney “is perplexed about how they (the four plaintiffs) could make these allegations.”

“We will defend our position in regard to these allegations,” he told the board.

After the meeting, both Yarborough and chief financial officer Bill Williams said Ash’s surgical record is exceptional.

“The numbers (of surgical cases resulting in death or complications) do not fall out (of the norm),” Yarborough said.

“This is a doctor who has a one percent death or complication rate,” Williams added.

Yarborough lamented the “bad publicity” created by the lawsuit and expressed hope that some of Dr. Ash’s patients will stand up for him. He also pointed out than none of the alleged problems resulted in a death and suggested that some of the allegations might constitute “legal malpractice.”

Williams predicted that the plaintiffs and their attorney will “look bad in front of the judge,” once the facts are known.
“Most of these charges are groundless,” he declared.

Williams also took exception to statements in the lawsuit that Ash is primarily responsible for turning the medical center’s finances from red ink to black. He produced statistics indicating that for May, for example, Ash ranked fifth in inpatient revenue and sixth in outpatient revenue among hospital staff members.

“The most important issue (in the financial turnaround) is the recruiting of internists and is related to their inpatient admissions,” he said. “In the total scheme of things, his (numbers) are not a major amount.”

Williams indicated that preliminary discussions with the hospital’s insurance company indicate a strong interest in fighting the allegations, although he conceded that whether to fight or settle may be the decision of the insurance company, not the hospital authority.

In addition to alleging malpractice against Ash, the suit claims that the medical center was negligent in its credentialing of Ash and participated with Ash “in a pattern of racketeering activity” against the plaintiffs.