Upstate Hospital retaliated against whistleblower in 'bad soap opera,' judge rules - Syracuse.com

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Upstate University Hospital illegally forced a neurosurgeon out of his job after he complained about the dangers of double-booked spinal surgeries, a judge has ruled.

State Supreme Court Justice James Murphy this week ruled that the hospital illegally retaliated against Dr. James Holsapple for raising repeated concerns over another doctor's practice of overseeing two spinal surgeries at once.

Murphy ordered Upstate to reimburse Holsapple $88,637 for his lost wages and benefits. The judge heard testimony in a non-jury trial over the lawsuit last year.

Holsapple's claim that he complained about the double-booked surgeries and suffered retaliation was corroborated by other witnesses, Murphy wrote. The judge expressed disdain for the atmosphere at Upstate at the time.

"The events and circumstances existing at Upstate Hospital in the period from 2006 through 2008 resemble a bad soap opera," he wrote. "The competing egos, pettiness and overall lack of leadership is disheartening from a public service and safety perspective."

The main players in the case -- Holsapple, Dr. Walter Hall, Dr. Charles Hodge and former Chief Executive Officer Phillip Schaengold -- have all left the hospital, the judge said.

Hall, Upstate's former neurosurgery department chairman, responded to Holsapple's concerns about the double surgeries by telling him, "I am tired of your complaints,'' the judge wrote.

Hall then cut Holsapple's salary by removing him from as the hospital's residency coordinator, quality assurance officer and pediatric neurosurgeon, the judge wrote.

Hall testified in a deposition that Holsapple never complained about the double surgeries. But Murphy cited the testimony of other witnesses who contradicted that claim.

"The Court finds the testimony of Dr. Walter Hall to be completely unbelievable and, in fact, smug," Murphy wrote.

Holsapple's now chairman of the neurologic surgery department at Boston University and chief of neurosurgery at Boston Medical Center.

"I'm grateful the judge saw things the same way I did," he said Friday of Murphy's decision."It really gts down to this: dissent should be embraced and welcomed, not punished."

Upstate spokesman Daryl Geddes declined to comment.

"This decision, which relates to issues dating back to over a decade ago, is currently under review by the Attorney General's Office and consideration is being given to filing an appeal, thus we are not able to comment further," Geddes said in an email.

Holsapple sued the hospital in 2010, claiming it put profits ahead of safety -- partly by letting Dr. Ross Moquin perform complex spine surgery on two patients in two operating rooms at the same time.

In the double surgeries, Moquin oversaw two other doctors performing the operations. Holsapple complained that the practice wasn't safe because the assisting surgeons weren't qualified to do them on their own, and that Moquin could be delayed going back and forth between the two operating rooms.

That happened in one case, Holsapple's lawsuit said. When Moquin got tied up in one OR, the patient in the other OR suffered a serious spinal fluid leak, the lawsuit said.

"Dr. Holsapple vehemently objected and opposed the procedures for valid public health and safety reasons," Murphy wrote.

Holsapple resigned from Upstate in January of 2009 after the " ... working environment turned hostile and ultimately became so intolerable that he could no longer pursue his professional career as a neurosurgeon," his lawsuit said.

He said Friday he holds no animosity toward Upstate or Syracuse.

"My primary motivation was that Upstate matters," Holsapple said. "What I want is for that place to flourish."

Contact John O'Brien anytime by email, Twitter, or at 315-470-2187.

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