I am a physician. I was fired by my hospital district on May 12 after 9.5 years.
June 5, 2009
Dear Dr. M.
I am writing to you as (my Ex-Employer Hospital) Clinic Director regarding my concerns about a letter that was sent by (my Ex-Clinic) containing my name. If you are the wrong person to address the concerns to, please notify me and forward the letter immediately. My concerns are as follows.
I was shown a letter about me by one of my patients yesterday, sent from (Ex-Clinic) and (Ex-Hospital).
I was not informed that any letter was being sent to my patients nor was I shown a copy prior to it being mailed. Since the letter says that visits are not being scheduled with Dr. Lizardinlaw, I find it appalling that it was sent without notifying me. The hospital district did not express any impatience to me about the letter that I am composing to go to my patients and I would point out that Dr. K's letter went out more than seven months after he left. My letter is nearly complete.
The letter from (Ex-Clinic) and (Ex-Hospital) says that no information about a clinic address is available (forgive me for paraphrasing but I don't have a copy of the letter). Exactly how would the hospital district have information if they never contacted me to ask if I had a new address or a new phone number? And the (Ex-Clinic) has had my new clinic phone number since the day I was fired. The answering service has been taking calls for me. My new clinic phone number is 385-1842.
I have also heard from patients in the community that when they asked who their doctor is now, have been told "you don't have one." I find this appalling. I would instead suggest that a more accurate answer is "we have canceled your doctor's malpractice." I still am their doctor and will be available as soon as my business is set up.
When the hospital district informed me that they were severing their relationship with me, they also informed me that the district would not stand in my way of setting up my own clinic. The letter to my patients does not support that intention.
I am sure that this is all an oversight, but I would request a reply as soon as possible. If the hospital district would rather reply in person than on paper, please let me know by email or by phone. I would also request that a copy of this letter, as well as the letter sent to my patients, go to the hospital commissioners and to the hospital ethics committee. Please let me know when the hospital commissioners have received it.
Thank you very much.
Yours truly,
Lizardinlaw MD