Dr. Donald Kenneth Glaser; LifePoint Health Inc.; LifePoint Hospitals Inc.; and LifePoint WV Holdings Inc. were also named as defendants in the suit.
On July 26, 2012, Bernard P. Gibson presented to Glaser at Raleigh General Hospital and was advised he needed a cardiac procedure and consented to the cardiac catheterization, according to a complaint filed in Raleigh Circuit Court.
Doris Gibson claims during the course of his cardiac catheterization, Glaser inserted a stent into the right coronary artery that was not medically indicated and, for the sole purpose of financial gain, the defendants misrepresented to Bernard Gibson that he needed the cardiac stent.
Glaser performed a heart procedure and inserted a stent that was not medically indicated and the defendants continued to conceal the impropriety until mid-January 2015, when an agent for the defendants contacted Doris Gibson by telephone, according to the suit.
Doris Gibson claims as a result of the defendant’s actions, her husband incurred unnecessary medical expenses and the hospital and LifePoint are liable for the tortious acts of their employees and agents.
The defendants owed a duty to Bernard Gibson to exercise reasonable care with respect to the investigation, hiring, retention and/or supervision of Glaser, according to the suit.
In 2008, Raleigh General performed 107 cardiac procedures. In 2009, the hospital performed 350 cardiac procedures, an increase of more than 300 percent.
In 2010, during Glaser's first full year as the director of Raleigh General's interventional cardiology unit, the number of cardiac procedures rose to 1,745. In 2011, the hospital performed approximately 1,700 cardiac procedures and in 2012, performed 2,109 cardiac procedures.
In 2013, Glaser's tenure at Raleigh General ended and he worked in Salt Lake City, Utah, from June 2013 until November 2013 and then moved to Waldorf, Md., where he stayed for approximately one year.
In October 2014, Glaser applied for employment with the Beckley VA Medical Center to work as a cardiologist and when the medical center contacted Beckley General to investigate Glaser's credentials and background, Beckley General did not inform the medical center that Glaser was the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Beckley VA Medical Center offered Glaser an offer of employment in January 2015 and on Feb. 13, 2015, just days after news agencies reported that Glaser was under investigation, Glaser rescinded his acceptance of the offer of employment by the medical center.
At least 15 lawsuits have been filed against the defendants since January 2015 due to the cardiac procedures.
Doris Gibson is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. She is being represented by Ben Salango and Brett Preston of Preston & Salango PLLC.
Raleigh Circuit Court case number: 16-C-140
