Louisville Neurosurgery

[EMMD2009]

Anyone want to comment about Louisville's situation.

I have heard that the NS dept is leaving and they have been removed from this year's match. Will the hospital be able to function as a Trauma 1 center without NS? Is this true and does anyone want to comment on it? Thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Dimoak]

AFAIK, the reason for the removal of the residency was that most of the faculty shifted to NHC-NNI, so UofL decided that keeping the program around was no longer financially advantageous. They're going to keep L1T because the stipulation includes 24 hour coverage, which will still be available through the private group. Word through the grapevine is that this is somewhat of a temporary hiatus because the program may return in a year (or longer) under NNI.

 

[tibor75]

latest development..

Legal action possible over doctors’ hiring
By Patrick Howington • [email protected] • April 19, 2009

Read Comments(1) Recommend (8)Print this pageE-mail this articleShare
Del.icio.usFacebookDiggRedditNewsvineBuzz up!TwitterThe controversy over Norton Healthcare’s hiring of eight University of Louisville faculty neurosurgeons could be headed for a courtroom.


Both Norton and U of L have retained outside lawyers — as have U of L's seven neurosurgery residents, the innocent bystanders in the dispute — and rhetoric has grown strident.


In a March 31 letter, lawyers for U of L told Norton Healthcare that the company “improperly interfered with an existing contractual relationship” between the school and the eight neurosurgeons by hiring them in January.


That would make Norton liable for damages under Kentucky law, said the letter, addressed to Norton’s outside counsel.


The letter also charged that the former chairman of U of L's neurosurgery department, Dr. Christopher Shields, and the seven other neurosurgeons “used their access to confidential and proprietary information” to aid Norton at the expense of U of L and University Hospital.


U of L's assertions are “unfounded, mean-spirited and simply outrageous,” given the doctors’ long service to the university and community, Norton general counsel Robert Azar said.


The eight doctors made up the entire neurosurgery faculty at the U of L School of Medicine. They lost their faculty status March 1, the day their employment by the new Norton Neuroscience Institute began.


The abrupt loss of faculty has raised doubt about the future of U of L's program to train neurosurgery residents and University Hospital’s status as a Level I trauma center, which depends on 24-hour emergency-room coverage by neurosurgeons.


Those consequences, and legal action, might be avoided if U of L, Norton and the doctors settle their differences. But the parties can’t even agree on whether the doctors resigned, as U of L insists, or were fired.


The eight neurosurgeons have filed grievances with U of L asking to be reinstated as faculty members. They argued that their abrupt terminations violated their tenure or contract rights, including the right to a hearing.


Those grievances could be a prelude to legal action if the physicians are not reinstated.


The university’s seven neurosurgery residents are affected by the dispute because they expected to complete seven years of training in Louisville, but may have to move elsewhere if the School of Medicine cannot quickly hire new neurosurgeons to supervise them.


The residents’ attorney, Tom Ice, declined to comment other than to say his goal is “to make sure (the residents’) education will continue.” Ice would not let residents be interviewed.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090419/NEWS01/90419002/-1/rss

 

[beaverfetus]

Ice, declined to comment other than to say his goal is “to make sure (the residents’) education will continue.” Ice would not let residents be interviewed.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090419/NEWS01/90419002/-1/rss

he's a lawyer too?

 

[skiz knot]

http://php.louisville.edu/news/news.php?news=1430

May 8th, 2009

The University of Louisville School of Medicine announced May 8 that it has hired nine board-certified neurosurgeons as faculty for the Department of Neurosurgery, including one who will serve as interim department chair and as director for the neurosurgery residency program.

Jonathan Hodes will assume the posts of interim chair of neurosurgery and director. Hodes earned his medical degree from the Indiana University Medical Center and has been a faculty member at the University of California San Francisco, Wayne State University and the Unviersity of Kentucky.

The others are:

* Thomas Becherer, who received his medical degree from the University of Kentucky. He also completed a general surgery internship and his neurosurgical residency there.
* Timir Banerjee, who earned his doctorate from the University of Calcutta. Banerjee has had a longtime practice in Louisville. He spent four years on the neurosurgery faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a year with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
* Michael Doyle, who earned his medical degree from UofL as well as completing an internship in general surgery and his neurosurgery residency here. He was chief resident for two years.
* Andrieves Dzenitis, who earned his medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine. Previously a faculty member in the UofL department of neurosurgery and in anatomical sciences and neurobiology, he also has been the neurosurgical consultant for UofL Athletics.
* Patricia Fernandez, who earned her medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has served on the faculty at the University of Buenos Aires, Wayne State University, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the University of California-San Diego.
* Haring Nauta, who earned medical and doctoral degrees from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He has served on the faculty at the University of Toronto, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
* Atom Sarkar, who received his medical and doctoral degrees from the University of Miami School of Medicine. He has served on the faculty in the departments of neurological surgery and chemical and biomolecular engineering at The Ohio State University. He also has served as OSU’s director of functional neurosurgery and neurological nanomedicine.
* Robert Sexton Jr., who earned his medical degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps before embarking on a longtime career in private practice.

The newly hired physicians fill vacancies caused when several neurology department members left their faculty posts earlier this spring to work full-time at another institution.

Their hiring means that the UofL Level 1 Trauma Center will continue to operate without interruption.

“A trauma center is a precious resource for the University of Louisville,” School of Medicine Dean Edward Halperin said in a news conference about the neurosurgery hires.

“When you need us, we’re there. We have been, and we will be.”

Related Link
Press conference video