Samir Elian, MD, former chief of cardiology at Flint, Mich.-based Hurley Medical Center, has sued the hospital for alleged retaliation after he raised concerns about insufficient care practices and an inadequate quality assurance program.
In a complaint filed Sept. 4 in Michigan federal court, Dr. Elian said one patient died in Jan. 2024 in Hurley’s ICU while awaiting transfer for emergency heart surgery and another died in August 2024 after going into cardiac arrest because the unit had only one working mobile cardiac monitor, according to a Sept. 8 report from MLive.
Dr. Elian is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, reinstatement and back pay for the “substantial economic injury, loss of goodwill, harm to his business reputation, loss of esteem and standing in the relevant hospital community, and loss of business opportunities” associated with what he called the hospital’s retaliation, the report said.
Dr. Elian was terminated in 2024, after expressing concerns beginning around 2022 or 2023, according to court documents viewed by Becker’s.
Laura Jasso, spokesperson for Hurley Medical Center, told Becker’s that “Dr. Elian’s lawsuit is a collection of false allegations that demonstrate a superficial understanding of cardiac services rather than any semblance of truth. Hurley will aggressively defend his baseless claims and seek sanctions against him for having filed them.”
Read the full MLive report here.
Editor’s note: This article was updated Sept. 9, 2025 at 12:10 pm CT.
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