Peer Review Immunity? Think Again: Recent Developments in Federal and State Law (Health Law Update‪)‬

On March 27, 2006 Lawrence R. Poliner, MD, was awarded $366 million by a Texas jury. Poliner sued Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas and several other physicians that served on a peer review committee after his clinical privileges were suspended. The court denied the hospital and peer review committee's claim of immunity under the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) stating that it is designed to encourage peer review but "does not encourage callous attempts to find dangerous doctors without concern for doctors' careers and in violation of the hospital's own bylaws and fundamental rules of fairness." (1)