A pediatric physician hired by West Virginia University School of Medicine to establish a pediatric bone marrow transplant program claims she was fired for pretextual reasons after reporting patient safety concerns.
Through her attorney, Sean Cook, Dr. Lubna Mehyar filed the suit in Monongalia County Circuit Court on Friday.
Spokespeople for the defendants, West Virginia University Board of Governors and West Virginia University Medicine Corporation, both told The Dominion Post the entities do not comment on pending litigation.
The suit accused the defendants of discrimination and retalation in violation of the West Virginia patient safety act, violating whistleblower protection laws, breach of contract and false promises. It seeks compensation including back pay, damages to her professional reputation and more.
Mehyar, a “highly skilled and accomplished physician in the fields of pediatric hematology, oncology, and bone marrow transplant,” was actively recruited and offered the opportunity to establish a pediatric bone marrow transplant program, which does not exist in West Virginia, according to the suit. She began working for WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital and WVUSOM on July 30, 2018.
A few months later, Dr. Patrick Tomboc, division chief of pediatric hematology and oncology, praised Mehyar in an email to a former colleague of hers who helped with what the suit described as a challenging pediatric case.
As Mehyar continued working, she noticed issues that “imperiled patient safety,” reporting her concerns to Tombac and Dr. Charles Mullett, chair of the department of pediatrics. The issues included lack of communication between medical providers in the department which caused a lack of continuity in patient care, improper patient management and inconsistent diagnoses, according to the suit.
As time went on, the issues became “more apparent and worrisome” and on May 21, 2020, Mehyar sent a “detailed email” to Mullett which explicitly addressed patient concerns, the suit said. The email identified eight specific areas of concern, including the way opioids were prescribed.
Mullett told Mehyar he would “look into it” and 19 days later she was called to a meeting with Mullett and Tomboc where she was informed she would be fired, the suit said. She was told she was “overqualified” for her position and she had until September to find a new job or the legal team would “take care of it.”
The next day Mehyar met with Mullett again and said she didn’t understand how or why her concerns caused the decision to fire her. Mullett minimized or dismissed her concerns and accused her of submitting false claims, according to the suit. He said Tombac — who “perpetrated many of the patient safety concerns reported” — refuted the claims and that the “team” did not like her.
Despite those statements, at the June 10 meeting Mullett retracted the notice of termination and told Mehyar she would have three months to “try and work” with Tombac. The suit said she then went to Tombac’s office to tell him about the reversal and to try and work things out with him. However, he told her he would say he didn’t want to work with her after three months.
In September, Mehyar was told the pediatric bone marrow transplant program would not be established for at least five years. On Oct. 13, in a meeting with Mullett, Tombac, and an administrator, Mehyar was fired, the suit said.
Mullet said it was because she missed two department meetings. Mehyar explained one meeting was while she was on approved vacation and she was at a different meeting during the second one as an educational liaison and offered to share emails showing she told the proper people she would not be in attendance. The suit said Mullett refused and told her the termination was final.
