Mercy sued for wrongful firing after doc testifies, reports fraud

A former Mercy doctor filed a lawsuit in federal court last week claiming he was wrongfully terminated after he testified against the health system and he alleged two oncologists were committing Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

On May 19, Dr. Viran Roger Holden, the former chairman of the Mercy Clinic Oncology Department, filed a civil suit against Mercy Clinic Springfield Communities in the Missouri Western District Court Southern Division seeking damages for loss of position, his termination and punitive damages. Among the claims in the case, Holden says Mercy violated the Federal Whistleblowers Protection Act.

According to documents filed in the case, Mercy terminated Holden on May 14 for a lack of professional judgment “in regards to relationships with coworkers and controlled substance prescriptions.” In the filing, Holden acknowledged one three-year affair with a registered nurse, but said he was fired for his testimony in a separate wrongful termination case and for seeking legal remedies in instances of inappropriate Medicare and Medicaid claims made by two Mercy oncologists.

In the lawsuit, Holden says he was removed from his position as head of the oncology department in May 2012 after he took complaints about what he described as inappropriate medical practices made by two employees to Mercy’s legal department.

In January 2012, Holden had told local Mercy officials, including current president Dr. Alan Scarrow, about medically unnecessary claims he said were occurring.

In the filing, Holden said he believed oncologists Drs. Gregory Nanney and Steven Braun, who were hired by Mercy in 2010, had ordered unnecessary treatments that “often resulted in adverse side effects for the patients, including hospital admissions.” The treatments were thought by Holden to maximize federal reimbursements.

Holden said he was instructed to not talk about the claims outside of the medical oncology group and had been told he was removed from his post because he brought his concerns to Mercy legal counsel when he felt his concerns weren’t properly addressed.

In December 2013, Holden took his concerns about the oncologists to the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts and then in March 2014 to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General.

In January 2015, Holden was preparing to provide a deposition in the wrongful termination lawsuit involving Dr. Hyewon Kim, a former radiation oncologist at Mercy, when he hired a lawyer who informed Mercy counsel Holden was concerned about retaliation if he testified truthfully.

About six weeks after he testified, he was confronted by a Mercy administrator regarding inappropriate actions including a three-year affair with a registered nurse, and two prescriptions he wrote for a controlled substance three years earlier.

A document filed with the case shows Holden was placed on administrative leave March 19 for a lack of professional judgment related to the relationships and the prescriptions. On May 14, the Mercy Clinic Board of Directors voted unanimously to terminate Holden’s employment, according to documents in the case.

Holden’s case claims he was terminated for testifying in the Kim case and talking to state and federal investigators about oncologists Nanney and Braun.

Mercy declined to comment on the suit through spokeswoman Sonya Kullmann, who cited the health care company’s policy to not comment on pending litigation.   

Holden asked the court for a jury trial, and District Judge Brian Wimes was assigned to the case on May 20.