A cardiologist who holds medical privileges at Cape Cod Hospital is suing the hospital, saying he was defamed and fired from his full-time position after raising concerns about ethics and safety in cardiac care.
Dr. Richard Zelman, who was medical director of the hospital’s Heart and Vascular Institute, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Barnstable Superior Court against Cape Cod Hospital, parent company Cape Cod Healthcare, and CEO Mike Lauf.
He said they “placed profit above all else” in ways that, in his view, compromised patient safety.
Zelman alleges that Lauf prohibited the use of a particular medical device on patients whose insurance plans reimbursed at a lower rate than others. The device, called Sentinel, is designed to reduce stroke risk during heart-valve replacement.
The insurance plans were managed-care plans, such as Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care, he said.
to create an environment of safety and prioritizing safe cycling in areas that people can be welcomed into that mode of transportation. so i thank you in advance for your approval this. chairman nolan: thank you. j.j. strolly, michael smithwick, katherine orlan. my name is j.j., president of the north of panhandle neighborhood association. and we sent out a survey last spring to our members, and with 350 spondants we had over 65% felt positive about proposed improvements. so therefore the board of the north panhandle neighborhood association does endorse this proposal. personally i live less than a block from fell street and have two children under the age of eight and am very happy to see these improvements be implemented and they could not be implemented fast enough. thank you. chairman nolan: thank you, sir. michael smithwick, katherine orlan, howard shafner. good afternoon. hi. thank you for this opportunity. my name is michael, i ve lived on scott between oak
and i m in support of this proposal. i bike all over this city but fell and oak are by far the scariest places to ride, due to the speed of the cars and number of lanes of traffic. i ve also worked as tour guide for bike tours. they re a small business and a bicycle tour company in san francisco located in hayes valley. i ve led tourists every day on fell street on bikes. when they introduced that planned route to tourists they get excited about the possibility of seeing golden gate park, but they re not excited to climb hills. in fact, many of my older or out of shape tourists, they can t climb hayes. i d love to lead tourists to san francisco all over our city without having to warn them about the dangers of cars, but i kind of saw the legal obligation to let them know about the dangers they might encounter. i give tourists a special warning about how biking along fell street will feel. i tell them cars go fast. i tell them to just breathe and keep their eyes sharp and we l
it s only a small step in the right direction from my point of view. but it s the right step. thanks very much. chairman nolan: next speaker please. lisa ruth elliott. is will barkus j.j. strolly, michael smithwick. hi, everyone. i m a resident of the upper haight, i codirector a history project in the city, i work in a bike shop and been bicycling since 1995. i see a range of people who want to bike in the city, i, as part of the 1% who will do it all the time, has stresses and feel myself tense up when bracing myself against fast cars. there s difficult negotiations at the argo station but i want to support this proposal as it stands because i think we need lower speeds that will cause in general with the improvements on the street. and i don t want to be forced into lanes of high speed traffic, ever. i speed up myself just to get through the intersection and i breathe easier when i get to the panhandle and when i get to a bike lane and the sense of relief on market