University Medical Center in Las Vegas will pay $6.5 million to an anesthesiologist who won his federal lawsuit alleging his due process rights were violated when he was suspended from practicing there in 2005.
One of Dr. Charles Williams’ attorneys, Jacob Hafter, said Thursday a federal jury awarded $8.775 million to Williams earlier in the day after an eight-day trial.
Williams agreed to accept $6.5 million to avoid an appeal and so he can move on with his record cleared, Hafter said.
Williams’ lawsuit said he was suspended after a surgery in which the patient experienced complications, but that prior to a meeting on the situation Williams was not provided with a written notice of charges or any information to justify his suspension.
The suspension amounted to a taking of a property right — his hospital privileges — in violation of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the lawsuit said.
The suit also alleged antitrust violations as Williams was unable to work as an anesthesiologist at UMC or any hospital as a result of a report about him provided to the National Practitioner Data Bank.
Prior to the trial, attorneys for Clark County-owned UMC argued that it was Williams’ “lack of insight and clinical skills that ultimately led to the end of his practice of medicine.”
But Hafter said the jury verdict and resolution of the lawsuit will result in the removal of negative information from Williams’ record.
“This gives him his career back,” Hafter said.