The former head of surgery at Tucson's only academic medical center was wrongfully terminated and is owed an apology, a panel of three prominent liver transplant surgeons says.
The panel’s recommendation about Dr. Rainer Gruessner, who was head of surgery at the University of Arizona Medical Center between 2007 and 2013, was released Monday.
The three surgeons based their decision on testimony they heard during a nine-hour public hearing in Tucson Aug. 5.
The panel also wrote that UPH should retract a complaint it filed with the Arizona Medical Board that accuses Gruessner of unethical conduct. Both sides in the case agreed all along that the quality of care the German-born transplant surgeon gave to patients was never in question.
Gruessner was suspended with pay in September after he was accused of being involved in amending a database of liver transplant records. UPH officials said his conduct during that time justified his termination. But Gruessner said all along he’d merely corrected a database.
People are also reading…
He told the panel that he’d been a political target of then-medical school dean Dr. Steve Goldschmid, whom he’d criticized. Goldschmid stepped down from his position in March.
The burden of proof at the hearing, which came about as a result of a lawsuit filed by Gruessner, was on University Physicians Healthcare (UPH) to prove it was justified in firing Gruessner in December.
The panel’s recommendation now goes to the board of directors of UPH, which is the company that staffs the UA Medical Center with physicians from the UA.
“The panel believes that Dr. Gruessner deserves to have his name cleared. The panel is hopeful that Dr. Gruessner will pursue his career as opposed to litigation,” the decision says.
Second wall planned across Arizona as Trump administration doubles down on border
