10 CRITICAL PRO IMMUNITY PEER REVIEW CASES: Number 10
This is a series describing the ten important pro-immunity peer review cases where court have granted immunity to peer reviewers under the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 11112 (“HCQIA”).
No. 10: Reyes v. Wilson Memorial Hospital, 102 F Supp. 2d 798 (S.D. Ohio, 1998).
Dr. Reyes was a board certified internist who did not get along with his colleagues at the hospital. Having been summarily suspended in a peer review process, he sued the hospital for antitrust violations and and state law torts, to which the defendants raised the issue of immunity. According to an affidavit filed by Dr. Reyes in opposition to a motion for summary judgment, he suffered the resentment of his fellow doctors because of the effect his method of practice had on the income of the Defendants. Plaintiff occasionally referred patients to hospitals other than Wilson Memorial and to doctors other than those named as Defendants. Dr. Reyes' practice of referring patients to other hospitals and to other doctors caused the Defendants to suffer a loss of income .