LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB/WAVE) — A former Baptist Health doctor in Madisonville, Kentucky won his case Thursday after the state Supreme Court restored a $3.5 million jury award in his favor.
Dr. John Farmer Jr. sued after a patient’s mother reported him to hospital administration in 2019, claiming he "rubbed his nose a lot" during an appointment at Baptist Health-Madisonville and appeared to be "on something."
According to the court's majority opinion, hospital leaders failed to follow their own policy for handling physician impairment concerns.
Multiple colleagues who observed Farmer that day said he did not appear impaired, including one doctor who was in the room during the patient interaction. A hospital nurse also described his behavior as "normal."
But those opinions were not communicated to hospital leadership. Instead, Farmer was removed from patient care and ordered to undergo evaluation through the Kentucky Physicians Health Foundation before he could return to work.
Farmer was not tested for drugs or alcohol the day of the complaint or the following day, something hospital attorneys argued was because the report came from his last patient of the day, meaning he had already gone home and possibly consumed alcohol that would have impaired the results.
But the majority opinion said that alcohol consumption shouldn't have mattered because Dr. Wayne Lipson, the Chief Medical Officer, testified the complaint could have been about any number of things.
"...emotional, could have been drug-related...could have been psychiatric, could have been physical," Lipson said.
A residency director at the hospital did report Farmer had a history of alcohol abuse, based on a DUI conviction in 2013 that he disclosed with the hospital prior to employment.
Farmer was eventually tested for alcohol, but never for drugs, something the Supreme Court said was inconsistent with the hospital's stated concerns and procedures.
And when he was tested, it only showed that Farmer had consumed alcohol sometime in the previous few weeks, not that he was impaired while treating patients that day.
"The PEth test cannot tell whether Dr. Farmer was in fact impaired on November 4, 2019," the judge wrote.
Farmer was sent to a treatment center and diagnosed with the lowest degree of alcohol use disorder. The Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure required him to enter a five-year monitoring period in which he could not see patients or use any forms of drugs or alcohol, including his ADHD medication.
A jury originally awarded Farmer $3.5 million, but that decision was later overturned by an appeals court. The Kentucky Supreme Court reversed that ruling Thursday and reinstated the payout.
While Farmer said he was happy with the decision, he said the allegations still follow him, making it harder to get licensed and credentialed to practice medicine and costing him some job opportunities.
"Those kinds of false allegations are scary and can be damaging to anyone who cares about their reputation," said Jamie Neal, one of Farmer's attorneys. "But they're especially damaging to professionals, medical professionals like Dr. Farmer, who have lives in their hands every day."
In a statement, Baptist Health said it was "disappointed with the court's decision" and believe it will be harmful rather than provide protection.
"Because of this opinion, hospitals and physicians who have concerns about potential physician impairment may no longer have the protection of immunity for reporting those concerns," said a Baptist Health spokesperson. "The opinion was not unanimous. Three judges wrote a dissenting opinion which states, ‘The current Majority opinion has serious consequences for organizations who should appropriately report concerns of potential impairment, and the safety of the patients they serve.'"
Click here for the full ruling.
Farmer is now working as a hospitalist in Eastern Tennessee.
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