Hospital Allegedly Shielded Money-Making Heart Surgeon Despite Horrible Medical Malpractice Record: The Boston Globe reported in a two-part investigative series about a New Hampshire hospital that allegedly shielded a cardiac surgeon despite the surgeon having one of the worst, if not the worst, medical malpractice claim history in the United States over a two-decade period.
New Hampshire cardiac surgeon Yvon Baribeau, M.D. earned in excess of $1 million each year while performing surgeries at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, New Hampshire, before Baribeau abruptly retired in 2019 at the age of 63. Even after his retirement, the hospital reportedly spoke of Dr. Baribeau in glowing terms. The Boston Globe reported “executives who treated him as a star, and promoted him to the public, knew the truth and its consequences. The facts are blunt and chilling: Baribeau has one of the worst surgical malpractice records among all physicians in the United States.”
Baribeau reportedly settled 21 medical malpractice claims related to his work at Catholic Medical Center, of which 14 included allegations that he contributed to a patient’s death. The Boston Globe reported the very disturbing allegation that “Hospital executives were well aware for years how dangerous he had become. They knew because they had been repeatedly warned by surgeons and other medical professionals at Catholic Medical Center that Baribeau’s errors were harming, even killing, patients. And yet for years hospital management resisted reining in one of their leading rainmakers.”
Despite the hospital’s alleged failure to act to protect patient safety, Baribeau’s colleagues were so concerned that they attempted to have him barred from operating on patients. These doctors “knew they might be risking their careers by seeking to oust one of the top revenue-generating surgeons at the hospital, but they believed Baribeau was making more and more deadly mistakes. But as tragic outcomes were happening more frequently, hospital leaders appeared to be shielding Baribeau from consequences.”
Following Baribeau’s return to Catholic Medical Center in the summer of 2018 after he completed treatment for cancer, current and former doctors at the hospital allegedly referred to the period after his return as “the summer of death”: in just five weeks, three of Baribeau’s patients died and two others were severely injured during surgeries. Baribeau was removed from the hospital’s operating schedule at the end of the summer only after concern from nurses and the filing of a whistleblower lawsuit. When his named again appeared on the operating schedule toward the end of summer, he was once again removed from the operating schedule.
The Boston Globe‘s investigation into how a New Hampshire hospital may have failed to protect patients from an allegedly dangerous doctor should serve as a warning and reminder that hospitals may protect their bottom lines and profits at the expense and safety of the patients who come to them for responsible medical care and treatment.
If you or a loved one were injured as a result of hospital malpractice in New Hampshire or elsewhere in the United States, you should consult with a New Hampshire medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your hospital medical malpractice claim for you and represent you in a medical malpractice case against a hospital, if appropriate.
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