Becker’s has reported on two physicians who are suing or have sued their former employers over alleged retaliation and contract disputes:
1. Mark Linskey, MD, former chair of the UC Irvine Department of Neurological Surgery, was awarded $5.8 million in a retaliation lawsuit against the university medical center. His legal battle began in 2016, when he alleged that university officials retaliated against him after he raised concerns about patient safety, abuse of power, and financial mismanagement.
On May 9, an Orange County jury awarded him damages for retaliatory actions that occurred between November 2015 and May 2025. This follows a 2019 verdict in which Dr. Linskey was awarded $2 million after successfully suing the University of California regents and two others, claiming he faced retaliation for filing a grievance in 2014.
2. Parker Fillmore, MD, a trauma surgeon and former trauma medical director at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, is suing the hospital for wrongful termination and enforcing a noncompete clause that he says unlawfully restricts his employment.
Dr. Fillmore joined Saint Alphonsus in 2016 and stepped into a leadership role amid severe understaffing and physician burnout. Despite leadership assurances, staffing and resources remained inadequate. During his military deployment in 2023, the hospital lost its trauma verification from the American College of Surgeons. Weeks after his return, Dr. Fillmore was removed from his leadership post and later terminated, a move he alleges was retaliatory.
Following his termination, Dr. Fillmore began working at West Valley Medical Center in Caldwell. In response, Saint Alphonsus issued a cease-and-desist letter citing a noncompete clause prohibiting him from providing trauma care within a 90-mile radius for 18 months. He argues the clause is harmful, unenforceable, and designed to preserve the hospital’s monopoly on Level II trauma care in the Treasure Valley.
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