Becker's Spine Review

9 SPINE SURGEONS Dr. James Chappuis sues Emory Healthcare, surgeon alleging defamation: 6 details By Laura Dyrda A n Atlanta-based spine surgeon filed a lawsuit on July 29 against Emory Healthcare and Daniel Refai, MD. Six things to know: 1. James Chappuis, MD, the founder and owner of SpineCenterAtlanta, sued Dr. Refai and Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare alleging defamation occurred more than a year ago. In March 2019, Dr. Chappuis performed an outpatient anterior cervical discectomy and fusion at Atlanta Orthopedic Surgery Center; the patient developed fluid collection and im- pinged cord at C3 to C5 levels of the spine. 2. Dr. Chappuis performed a second pro- cedure and removed plates, screws and the interbody gra at C3-C4 and C4-C5 before noticing cerebrospinal fluid. He performed a partial corpectomy at C3-C4 and patched the leak. e patient continued to report issues and was taken to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and underwent additional obser- vation. 3. e patient's condition and motor func- tion improved. By May 6, the patient's upper extremity neurologic function improved, ac- cording to the lawsuit, and he planned to have her transferred to another care facility. However, on May 7 Dr. Chappuis received notification that the patient no longer want- ed his treatment and Dr. Refai took over her case. Dr. Refai proceeded to perform anoth- er surgery on the patient on May 9 and aer emerging from the procedure she was a quad- riplegic. 4. Dr. Chappuis alleged Dr. Refai provided the patient with "false and defamatory infor- mation" about her care and then published the false allegations among other members of the hospital staff. 5. Dr. Refai also allegedly sent information to the National Practitioner Data Bank, which is a repository of reports containing infor- mation on malpractice, that incorrectly char- acterized the initial procedure Dr. Chappuis performed. e report to NPDB stated that Dr. Refai found a suture needle le in the patient from previous procedures; Dr. Chappuis maintains in the lawsuit that his team accounted for all needles and sponges aer the procedures were performed and none of the imaging scans performed on the patient aer the ini- tial procedures showed a needle. 6. e lawsuit also alleges the Emory Peer Re- view Committee engaged in efforts to review the decision to perform the initial surgeries at the outpatient surgical center, a competing entity. Dr. Chappuis believes the peer review has a conflict of interest in the matter. During the investigation, Dr. Chappuis was suspend- ed from the hospital on a precautionary basis. He resigned his privileges on May 19, 2019. n 12 insights on orthopedic surgeon net worth, debt & compensation By Alan Condon M edscape has published its "Physician Debt and Net Worth Report 2020" and "Physician Compensation Report 2020," shedding light on the economic situation for physicians in more than 20 specialties. Between October 2019 and February 2020, 17,461 physicians responded to the surveys. Twelve insights on orthopedic surgeon debt, net worth and compensation: 1. Nineteen percent of orthopedic surgeons reported having a net worth of more than $5 million, the highest of any specialty. 2. In terms of compensation, orthopedic surgeons topped the list with an aver- age annual income of $511,000. 3. Orthopedic surgeons earned the highest incentive bonuses, taking home $96,000 on average each year. 4. Compensation rose 6 percent from 2019 to 2020 for orthopedic surgeons. 5. Only 11 percent of women physicians specialize in orthopedics, up just 2 percent from 2015. 6. Orthopedic surgeons reported spending 13.7 hours per week on adminis- trative work, the eighth lowest of any specialty. 7. Sixty percent of orthopedic surgeons reported being fairly compensated for their work. 8. Orthopedic surgeons reported having about 18 percent of their claims denied. 9. Twenty-eight percent of orthopedic surgeons are still paying medical school debt. 10. Plastic surgeons and orthopedic surgeons topped the list for specialists with homes of more than 5,000 square feet. They tied at 22 percent. 11. Twenty-two percent of orthopedic surgeons had a mortgage of over $500,000. 12. When asked if they would choose the same specialty again, 97 percent of orthopedic surgeons said yes. n

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