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ELKO, Nev. (AP) — A longtime northern Nevada obstetrician has filed a lawsuit against an Elko hospital where his medical privileges effectively have been revoked.
Dr. George Winch Jr. and the Elko Women's Health Center filed the lawsuit last month against Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital, the Elko Daily Free Press reported Monday (http://tinyurl.com/gvflm39 ).
The complaint alleges the hospital launched a campaign to suspend and revoke Winch's privileges based on false grounds.
Hospital officials said they have not yet been served with the lawsuit and could not comment.
The complaint says Winch has delivered more babies in the area than anyone else since he was certified in Elko County in 1993 — a total of roughly 6,000.
"By all accounts, he is considered by his peers, patients and the community an excellent physician," the document states.
In 2001, Winch began performing some hysterectomies at the Great Basin Surgical Center "because the costs to the patient were substantially less" than if the procedure was performed at the hospital, the lawsuit said.
Winch claims hospital personnel started spreading false rumors about him in 2008 in a malicious and fraudulent way, violating his rights and damaging his reputation.
"This is a case where the hospital failed to comply with the bylaws and they wrongfully revoked his privileges," said Jonathan Whitehead, an attorney representing Winch.
The complaint states that in 2013, the CEO of the hospital at the time, Gene Miller, hired a lawyer to investigate complaints of allegedly "inappropriate behavior" by Winch. Winch claims that an ad hoc committee prejudged him based "solely upon hearsay." He said he was not given an opportunity to review the written allegations or defend himself. An appeal board recommended revoking his license the following year.
The peer review proceedings in 2014 accused Winch of abandoning a patient who was in the operating room on the table, and engaging in "compulsive/histrionic/narcissistic behavior directly affecting patient care/well-being."
Winch continued to practice gynecology and performed hysterectomies at the Great Basin Surgical Center. The hospital then purchased the center in July 2015, and "has effectively revoked Dr. Winch's clinical surgical privileges in Elko," the lawsuit says.
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Information from: Elko Daily Free Press, http://www.elkodaily.com
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