Published: March 14, 2008 01:17 am            

Still at odds?

Attorneys appear to disagree over lawsuit settlement

THOMASVILLE, Ga. — The Hospital Authority of the City of Thomasville voted Thursday to accept a court settlement reached in the case of a physician’s request for authority records.

An attorney who represented the authority and John D. Archbold Memorial Hospital President and CEO J. Perry Mustian said they were “pleased” to have the case resolved.

In a written statement, Valdosta attorney Wade Coleman, who represented the hospital authority, said Thursday that the authority has “at all times denied that Dr. Simms’ lawsuit had any merit.”

He also said it was unfortunate that the authority was forced to fight the legal case.

“The role of the hospital authority has not been to operate the hospital,” he said. “The hospital authority has always operated in the open at public meetings and in compliance with the Open Records Act, and will continue to do so in the future.”

Dr. Wesley Simms filed an initial lawsuit Sept. 19 against the hospital authority, and a second lawsuit Nov. 13 naming the hospital and former chief financial officer William Sellers Jr.

Dismissal documents were filed Tuesday in Thomas County Superior Court.

Simms filed an initial request for documents on Aug. 6, according to the lawsuit filed Sept. 19. The lawsuit said that the records made available upon an initial response were incomplete, and that no response was given to a second request.

The Thomasville Times-Enterprise also made a similar open records request to the authority after the lawsuit was filed. Authority documents that were revealed in court documents or were later made available through a records request to the Georgia Department of Community Health were not among the documents provided by Sellers.

Attorney Rich Shackelford, who represented the hospital, like Coleman, said that he disagreed with statements made Tuesday by Simms and his attorney, Anthony Cochran.

“The court pleadings reflect that Archbold has at all times disputed the allegations of Dr. Simms,” Shackelford’s written statement said. “The authority issues tax-exempt bonds to fund expansion projects at Archbold, which are then used by Archbold for the purposes for which the bonds were issued.”

As a private entity, he said, Archbold is not a public agency subject to the state’s Open Records Act.

“Archbold did agree in connection with the settlement of the litigation not to contest the ability of the public to obtain non-privileged and non-exempt documents regarding bond proceeds from transactions with the Hospital Authority of the City of Thomasville.”

In his response, Mustian said that the “inappropriate activities recently reported in the press do not reflect the culture or policies of the institution or this administration.”

As a result of an internal investigation conducted after the lawsuits were filed, Archbold Medical Center, parent company of the hospital, said in a Feb. 15 news release that Sellers “prepared and submitted inaccurate documentation to the Georgia Department of Community Health” and “submitted to the state a set of minutes of non-existent meetings and discussions of the authority.”

The allegedly inaccurate documentation and minutes of non-existent authority meetings were submitted in an effort to show that the hospital “was entitled to certain supplemental Medicaid funds,” the release said.

Sellers, who had been suspended since mid-November, resigned the same day that the medical center announced those findings from the internal investigation.

“In fact, as soon as Archbold discovered inappropriate activity, the institution acted swiftly and voluntarily to disclose that activity to the proper authorities and launch a thorough investigation,” Mustian’s statement said. “Archbold continues to cooperate fully with those authorities.”

Mustian said that with the resolution of the lawsuit, Archbold can now focus on patient care.

Cochran disputed Thursday the authority’s statement that it complied with open records laws.

“When the hospital authority finally responded to Dr. Simms’ requests, it did not produce minutes of public meetings, or annual audits, or annual reports, or community benefit reports, or conflict forms, all of which are required of the authority by statute,” he said in an e-mail statement. “Dr. Simms did not receive all of the hospital authority’s minutes until he filed suit.

“The authority’s team of lawyers parceled them out on Oct. 29, Dec. 18, and with the last installment on Feb. 22. It was only after minutes were produced on Feb. 22 that all minutes were finally produced.”

The minutes show that the authority exercised oversight over its money and Sellers during the mid-1980s but that oversight was lacking in 2003, Cochran said.

“A lack of oversight led to the current problems,” Cochran said. “The Hospital Authority and Hospital agreed in writing that in the

future they will not contest the right of any citizen, not just Dr.

Simms, to obtain public records under the Open Records Act concerning

bond money from hospital authority bond issues. That is the heart and

soul of the settlement we reached. If the hospital or hospital

authority disagree with that, we do not have a settlement.”



Alan Mauldin writes for the Thomasville (Ga.) Times-Enterprise.

        

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