Morgantown physician sues WVU, School of Medicine for problems with residency program

MORGANTOWN – A Morgantown physician is suing West Virginia University and the School of Medicine after he claims he was given a non-accredited residency position instead of an accredited one.

West Virginia University School of Medicine, West Virginia University and Dr. Shelly Nuss were named as defendants in the suit.

Dr. Syed K. Fareed and his family went to Morgantown at the request of Dr. Mathis P. Frick, the Chief of the Department of Radiology at WVU Hospital, according to a complaint filed May 17 in Monongalia Circuit Court.

Fareed claims the defendants told him and his wife that if she agreed to join the hospital at a lower salary, he would be given a three-year residency position in the Department of Internal Medicine.

It was also agreed upon between the Department of Radiology and the Department of Internal Medicine that the Department of Radiology would fund Fareed's residency and pay $60,000 to the Department of Internal Medicine, according to the suit.

Fareed claims his wife left her position at the University of Northern Texas, where she was making $400,000, to work at WVU Hospital for $225,000 because the defendants agreed to give Fareed the three-year residency position.

The position Fareed was given was a non-accredited residency position, but he was told that it was an accredited position, according to the suit.

Fareed claims he was put on probation in September 2009 without the required two written warnings and that Nuss made "untrue statements under oath."

The defendants all made false statements about Fareed, according to the suit.

Fareed is seeking $6 million in compensatory damages, for the School of Medicine to publish a written apology to him in the newspaper and for the court to order the School of Medicine to get him into a residency training program. He is representing himself.