Many of the legal claims brought by the former chairman of neurosurgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center were dismissed Thursday by the Colorado Court of Appeals.
Dr. Issam Awad, a Lebanese Arab, filed suit claiming that before his employment at the hospital in June 2000, a group of doctors began an effort to undermine him. As a result, he said, when he arrived he was slandered, discriminated against and subjected to open hostility, including racial insults. He also said University Hospital investigated him because of the false allegations.
Awad left Denver in fall 2003 for a job at Northwestern University.
Awad’s case has yet to go to trial. But various pretrial rulings by Denver District Judge Herbert Stern had been appealed by the doctors sued by Awad.
The doctors said they were immune from suit under the Governmental Immunity Act. Stern ruled that the immunity was waived because Awad’s claims were based on operation of a public hospital.
But the appellate court reversed Stern, saying that for immunity to be waived, Awad’s alleged injuries had to be directly related to the “purpose’ of the hospital, as distinct from its operation.
The appellate court said none of the alleged actions by the doctors directly related to that primary purpose – to provide medical care to the sick or injured.
As a result, it said, all of Awad’s state tort claims must be dismissed except those against the doctors based on allegations of “willful and wanton conduct.’
