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Anesthesiologist sues county hospital for slander
A former anesthesiologist at San Joaquin General Hospital is suing the county and several of his superiors at the hospital for libel, slander and defamation of character.
Dennis C. McIntosh's suit alleges that because he pointed out the faults of the hospital anesthesiology department while he was employed there, several doctors attacked his character and medical abilities. Their comments also allegedly prevented him from getting other medical jobs.
The lawsuit seeks more than $25,000 in damages and also names the hospital, Dr. Lee Adams and former Emergency Medical Services director Elaine Hatch.
"All of his allegations have to be looked at very carefully," Assistant County Counsel Robyn Drivon said. "The case is very early in litigation."
McIntosh's attorney, Vittoria M. Bossi of Stockton, could not be reached for comment.
According to the lawsuit, McIntosh is a licensed anesthesiologist who worked at the hospital between January and April 2004 as a temporary physician. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing patients under anesthesia in the operating room, Drivon said.
While at the hospital, the lawsuit says, he publicly questioned several practices such as why the co-chairwoman of the anesthesiology department was a nurse and not a licensed anesthesiologist.
"I think he is miscategorizing the roles (of the department)," Drivon said. "I don't want to go any deeper than that."
After he made these statements, Hatch, Adams, and others began making false statements about McIntosh's professional abilities, according to the suit.
The anesthesiologist's work was rated "clinically marginal" by Adams, who was not licensed and never observed McIntosh's work, the suit says
"Our position is that our evaluators carefully performed their evaluation," Drivon said.
In March of this year, while applying for another job, McIntosh allegedly learned that hospital employees wrote malicious information about him in an evaluation. The evaluation states that he "is not a competent anesthesiologist and (he) rates as an inferior doctor."
Because of those statements he has been denied work, the lawsuit alleges.
The case is scheduled to be heard in court for the first time June 5.
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