It was a surrender nearly worthy of Versailles or Appomattox as Dr. Spencer Sullivan agreed to a $28 million judgment after UMMC sued him for stealing patient lists and other trade secrets when he worked for the hospital ten years ago. However, UMMC will not enforce the judgment if the physician forfeits his medical license and closes down his business, Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine. In other words, pay up or get out of town.
Dr. Sullivan and UMMC have been slugging it out in court since 2017. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves.
Judge Reeves' February 2022 order provides a nice history of the case:
University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) hired Defendant Dr. Spencer Sullivan in July 2014 to head its Hemophilia Treatment Center. As a condition of his employment, Dr. Sullivan agreed to refrain from taking or using patient information for his own benefit, including to solicit patients for his own independent practice. In January 2016, however, after gaining access to UMMC’s confidential financial information, Dr. Sullivan contacted his lawyer and arranged to start his own for-profit hemophilia clinic and pharmacy. He incorporated this business as the Mississippi Center for Advanced Medicine, P.C. (MCAM). Over the course of the next few months, Dr. Sullivan coordinated with other UMMC staff— for present purposes, Defendants Linnea McMillan and Kathryn Sue Stevens—to prepare for "MCAM’s opening. This included compiling UMMC patient records. While still employed at UMMC, Defendants organized a spreadsheet containing patient information, such as each patient’s birthdate, diagnosis, prescriptions, dose and frequency, insurance, pharmacy, and home and mobile telephone numbers, which they referred to as “the List.” When Dr. Sullivan departed UMMC’s employment on June 30, 2016, UMMC alleges that he left armed with this classified patient information, in violation of his employment agreement. The use of this information, UMMC contends, enabled Dr. Sullivan to generate “$5 million of gross revenue from [prescriptions], of which Dr. Sullivan reported more than $1.1 million as personal income.
UMMC sued Dr. Sullivan and crew in Hinds County Circuit Court in July 2017. The Clarion-Ledger's Anna Wolfe did some digging and her reporting changed everything.
Then, in June 2018, the Clarion-Ledger published an article about the alleged theft of patient information from UMMC. The article sparked a major shift in the litigation. Upon reading the account, McMillan’s ex-husband contacted UMMC’s counsel to notify them that he had obtained a list from his ex-wife’s car that resembled the List described in the article. UMMC confirmed that it was the List. UMMC filed the federal lawsuit against the defendants on June 28, 2019, charging the defendants with violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act as well as the Federal Trade Secrets Act. One of the defendants eventually cracked.
Initially, even when faced with the copy of the List recouped from McMillan’s ex-husband, Defendants denied taking, possessing, or using it. That changed in March 2020. Then, Defendant Rachel Harris “hired her own independent counsel, and produced 1,469 pages of previously unproduced text messages.” These messages directly contradicted Defendants’ testimony. This prompted UMMC to submit a request for admission to Harris, to which she “admitted that she, Stevens, McMillan, and Dr. Sullivan all possessed and used the UMMC Patient List at MCAM, and that she lied in her deposition.” UMMC then settled its claims with Harris. The pages of text messages proved to be a treasure trove and put UMMC on the path to finding the truth. UMMC filed a motion for default judgment against all remaining Defendants on March 12, 2021. It contended that McMillan, Stevens, and Dr. Sullivan committed perjury. UMMC further alleged that Defendants engaged in spoliation of evidence by destroying the List and other patient records that Defendants allegedly stole from UMMC. UMMC emphasized that in response to requests for production in this federal lawsuit, Defendants falsely claimed that no patient List or other patient records from UMMC existed. This, UMMC claimed, amounted to concealment of evidence. ...Dr. Sullivan eventually admitted he possessed two external hard drives containing information obtained from UMMC.
On April 21, 2021, the Magistrate Judge issued an Order granting in part UMMC’s motion to compel production of the hard drives. This Order put Dr. Sullivan to a choice:produce all external hard drives used to store UMMC information, or else, permit forensic examination of his desktop computer. On April 26, 2021, Dr. Sullivan responded to the Order, through his counsel, by contacting the Magistrate Judge to arrange for production of “a hard drive and a thumb drive.” Dr. Sullivan’s admission contradicted his prior testimony and interrogatory responses. In connection with this admission, on August 26, 2021, Dr. Sullivan submitted errata correcting his deposition testimony of April 14 and 15, 2021. There, Dr. Sullivan admitted to retaining a hard drive containing files and emails from UMMC. Id.
* Dr. Sullivan must surrender his medical license. The license can not be reinstated nor can the physician seek reinstatement.
* MCAM filed a bankruptcy petition in federal court. MCAM must submit a plan of liquidation.
* MCAM must close by the end of the year.
* Dr. Sullivan and MCAM must cease participation in Medicare.
* A $28 million dollar judgment is entered against Dr. Sullivan and MCAM that is non-dischargeable in bankruptcy. However, UMMC will not enforce the judgment as long as Dr. Sullivan abides by the settlement agreement.
* Dr. Sullivan can seek a medical license in other states although he can not treat any patients from Mississippi.
* UMMC will not publicize the settlement nor issue a press release.
Such is the price for stealing trade secrets in Mississippi.
Robert Greenlee led a plethora of Butler Snow attorneys in representing UMMC. The Brunini law firm and Melvin Priester, Jr. represented the defendants.
57 comments:
Somebody shouldn't have pissed off their ex.
Is stealing patient records not a federal crime? Why isn’t this thug in prison?
What hospital were they associated with, was it Baptist?
I can't say anything about Dr Sullivan's honesty or business practices, but he's a great doctor, who saved my stepson's life.
UMMC
Stealing patient information is a federal crime under 42 USC 1320d-6 especially when done for financial gain or commercial advantage which is what this appears to be.
That's what we need to do. Run off as many doctors and health providers as we can
When you perjure yourself to a federal judge, you get more than a wrist slap . . .
I could be wrong, but I believe his practice was in Madison, in a really nice new building, on Old Canton Road, next to Dr. Fortenberry's dental practice, approaching Hoy Road.
@ Bill Dees: A lot of otherwise admirable and capable people steal shit at a higher level than bicycles, copper wire and ATVs. Quite a few are attorneys.
He may be a great Dr but someone that does this and lies about has a deficit in ethics
yes MBMC. he left UMMC.
Is that the group that was working at Baptist?
I wonder how they arrived at the settlement amount of $28 million. Seems a bit high.
Hard to make them Yacht Payments on a UMMC Salery...
2:54, in this case the Sword of Damocles is worth about $28 million. High enough, and rendered non-dischargeable in BKR, to incentivize Sullivan to peddle his @$$ to another state and stay out of trouble with UMC and Mississippi.
Thug?
UMMC is sick and toxic. Revolving door of doctors. A whole exodus of pediatricians left with Sullivan and years prior even more left as well. Instead of UMMC trying to figure out what is wrong with their organization and why all these pediatricians left, they good ole boy sued their competition away.
What a little beta move to steal your ex wives papers out of her car and turn them over. Small d energy for sure.
@1:38 PM, yeah. That's exactly why I said I didn't know anything about his honesty or his business practices. Sounds like he got off light for what he did.
I've always wondered by it take 7 Butler Snow lawyers to handle something that 1-2 lawyers at any other firm could handle. I'd love to see what they billed UMMC for this.
Bill Dees, the winners get to write the story. The real story: horrible conditions at UMMC for bright competent clinicians to practice. They leave UMMC to actually be able to treat patients better. They are the only type of that physician that can treat those types of patients in Mississippi. They feel bad about leaving those patients high and dry, so they want to let them know where they are going. Looks like the definitely used some dumb bush league tactics, but the intent was always to provide better care. It doesn't surprise me that your stepson received really great care.
UMMC is all about patient health…nothing else.
I don't care who the doc is or how it was discovered, stealing patient information is inexcusable. Period. If you can't abide by that law, how many others were broken. You sob, you wasted any talents you may have had as a physician.
I’ve always found UMMC pediatrics to be awesome. All the providers are great and super nice. Never experienced any toxic vibes before
It finally happened. This case had been discussed in 2017, but it came to the clear that they stole patient records in 2021. Stealing patient records is a big no-no, shame that corporate greed got rid of a quality medical facility in Mississippi.
He will move out of state, get a license, and practice elsewhere.
I know how dense you can be, but have you no understanding of background checks?
the $28M is MCAM’s net profit from dispensing hemophilia medicine to about 30 former ummc patients with severe hemophilia. Dr. Sullivan wrote the prescriptions and then dispensed them from his own pharmacy. He did it with stolen medical records. He and his co-defendants then committed perjury and destroyed evidence to cover the tracks. got caught.
The sad thing here is the doctors at MCAM were great and there was ease of access, unlike UMMC. This is awful for the patients they serviced. My kids lost all of their specialists because of this entire ordeal.
When a party gets caught lying under oath about whether critical evidence exists, refuses to produce said evidence, and destroys that same evidence, then that party gets to lose their case.
The same thing happened to Todd and Kim Mardis in their business litigation. The same thing happened to several nationally-prominant people in the last couple of years.
That's what it looks like when the systems works.
"He will move out of state, get a license, and practice elsewhere. "
Prison doctor jobs are open everywhere...........
He will move out of state, get a license, and practice elsewhere. Watch.
"I could be wrong, but I believe his practice was in Madison, in a really nice new building, on Old Canton Road, next to Dr. Fortenberry's dental practice, approaching Hoy Road. "
I think that is wrong. His group established a multidisciplinary clinic in Madison between Primo's and a gym facility. There were multiple other tenants in that building and I think there is currently a large Baptist sign on the building, but they may not be the only tenants in there now. He may have moved to the location you describe but I've never seen that one.
I am not giving legal advice here, but I can't see how a doctor gets accused of stealing something he or she wrote originally (i.e., his or her own clinic notes, prescriptions, patient letters, lab results, etc). The legal problem is clearcut, however, if he used that information to set up a competing business relationship after agreeing not to do that when he left the first employer.
I get he may be a good physician. But as a parent, knowing he stole the federally protected HIPPA of hundreds on minors and then lied to fede
ral court offsets his medical talents. Those things cannot be tolerated regardless of the quality of the doctor or hospital. HiPPA laws were created for a reason and he knowingly flaunted that in the face of the federal court.
Crisler's trial starts Wednesday. Damn.
I seem to recall that is true, HIPPA was created for a reason, and it wasn't to protect your privacy. It was to make it harder for you and your attorney to get ahold to your medical records. That's why it passed, because the poor ol' insurance companies gave the okay to the Congress that they pay so much for, both of whom lay awake nights worrying about you and your health.
A lot of people are bringing up HIPAA. I wouldn’t be surprised if the affected patients would bring about at least one HIPAA lawsuit bc I believe UMMC didn’t have standing to bring up the issue of HIPAA, since the standing falls with the patients whose information has been misappropriated. It’s a shame since that practice was going to be a great piece of healthcare for the state of Mississippi but for destroyed out of people’s greed getting in the way.
If you’re going to cite the act in your discussion, it’s HIPAA, not HIPPA.
sounds like he wanted that easy pharmacy money.
how much of tha 28 million went to Brunini to achieve this outcome?
When an employed doctor leaves a health system even if a non compete arrangement is followed, said heath system will do all in its power to lie and misdirect the patients that want to follow that doctor. I don’t blame him a bit for getting a list of his continuity patients. God forbid kids get out of that transgendered woke hell hole. Our impotent board has this very situation spelled out but cannot regulation health systems, only the doctors practicing in it. And if getting a database of patients off an EHR is that simple, then isn’t the health system liable?
Pediatric Specialty sign next door to Fortenberry Dental for the past five years or so. Take a drive.
Litigation is hard enough but when the defendants blatantly lie it becomes downright miserable. Good job Robbie.
My question is this, was UMC harmed by this guy offering treatments to help patients that were not by offered at UMC? Will the lawsuit open the door to UMC being exposed to damages beyond $500,000 since there is a cap of the amount you can collect from them? It seems tort reform doesn’t work if UMC is suing someone.
8:07 p.m., I believe medical records belong to the patient, not the doctor who wrote them. I also believe this outcome is more about discovery violations than non-compete agreements.
sullivan did not offer anything not offered by ummc. sullivan wanted the hemophilia pharmacy money. do you think he committed perjury to cover up good patient care?
“ My question is this, was UMC harmed by this guy offering treatments to help patients that were not by offered at UMC? Will the lawsuit open the door to UMC being exposed to damages beyond $500,000 since there is a cap of the amount you can collect from them? It seems tort reform doesn’t work if UMC is suing someone.”
I think you are confused. This has nothing to do with tort laws when it comes to stealing and perjury.
Isn't it a violation of federal law for a healthcare facility to release or share the contents of patient records without the signed consent of the patient?
As a parent who's child has been treated with great success by Dr. Sullivan, I don't give one iota about these "trade secrets." The so called names are patients who are going to be detrimentally affected by all this. This is what is so messed up about medicine today. My son's patient information is a valued asset to UMMC, quality of care be damned. The focus should be on the patient. Period.
The facility did not release the records. the records were stolen from the facility by mcam employees.
this case proves no one is every worried about perjuring themselves in a civil case. its as if it is expected and encouraged.
@10:28 pm, yes. HIPAA.
847am near the last comments gets it. A doctor's own patient list is UMMC's is what this case basically says. When said doctor left a toxic, badly managed system to start his own practice, they did everything in their power to maintain their monopoly over children's care. It is a structural issue in our state. We have to break up the monopoly, otherwise care will not get better.
They’ll say anything when they get caught.
Seems like the hospital with the most resources should continue to provide for the most vulnerable patients (our children). Nothing to do with a “monopoly.” There is no other hospital willing to take on the financial burden to care for “all” pediatrics (not just those that produce money)
To me, this case is about one thing. Theft. Dont care who the parties are. An employee stole something that did not belong to him from his employer. This "something" contained private data. The employee is 100% wrong in this situation.
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