Saint Mary’s has been awarded over $510 million in punitive damages after a Washoe County jury ruled against Delaware-based Universal Health Services in what the hospital called a “landmark verdict.”
A statement from the hospital today with this photo indicates UHS and affiliated defendants had been found liable “for fraud, malice, and oppression in a coordinated scheme against Saint Mary’s Health Network during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
It said the jury heard evidence of UHS orchestrating “a scheme beginning in 2019 to cripple the health network by soliciting physicians and senior leaders, stealing trade secrets, and triggering a mass resignation that disrupted patient care and destroyed Saint Mary’s healthcare ecosystem.”
The statement indicated that jurors fonds that UHS and its agents, “including former Saint Mary’s leaders who sabotaged the network from within, engaged in deliberate and unlawful acts to:
• Illegally solicit Saint Mary’s physicians and employees
• Steal confidential trade secrets
• Orchestrate a mass resignation event
• Breach contracts and duties of loyalty to Saint Mary’s
• Disrupt patient care and relationships by diverting patients from Saint Mary’s to UHS entities.”
“This case is about more than one hospital, it is about accountability and integrity in American healthcare and we commend the judicial system for bringing truth to light,” Prem Reddy, M.D., Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Prime Healthcare is quoted as saying. “This verdict is a victory for patients and communities, affirming that accountability and integrity are the foundation of healthcare.”
“For over 117 years, Saint Mary’s has been a trusted institution. Patients and communities should always be at the heart of medicine, and this verdict reinforces that trust and care must never be compromised,” Sunny Bhatia, President of Prime Healthcare was quoted as saying.
Prime Healthcare completed its purchase of Saint Mary’s in July 2012.
According to a UHS statement, the claims stemmed from physicians leaving St. Mary’s Medical Group in Reno, Nevada, to join the Pinnacle Medical Group in 2021.
In its own press release UHS says that under Nevada statutory law it believes the punitive damages are expected to be reduced to a maximum of about $14 million. The company also said recent Nevada Supreme Court precedent could further reduce the punitive damages.
