Chesapeake OB/GYN files suit against Chesapeake Regional Medical Center after claiming he was suspended with bias

Hardy alleges he was suspended for criticizing the hospital for making “decisions based, not on a patient’s care and well-being, but rather economics.” Author: Kathleen Lundy Published: 10:46 AM EST January 20, 2024 Updated: 10:46 AM EST January 20, 2024

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A doctor living in Virginia Beach has filed a lawsuit against a Chesapeake hospital for what he says was an unfair suspension.

Timothy J. Hardy of Virginia Beach officially filed a lawsuit against the Chesapeake Authority and the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center for what he alleges was an unfair suspension of his medical staff privileges and the following “biased” Ad Hoc Committee which upheld the suspension. Hardy worked at the hospital as an obstetrician and gynecologist (OB/GYN).

Hardy says that the 2021 suspension seemed to come about because of criticism of the hospital’s management which he claimed was making “decisions based, not on a patient’s care and well-being, but rather economics.”

Hardy also alleges that the Ad Hoc Committee that was assembled to review the suspension “breached its own Bylaws prescriptions of, among other things a fair panel.”

The panel allegedly included two Chesapeake Regional Medical Center employees and a hospital-contracted agent who were “inherently biased based on their employment and financial relationship with the defendant,” and the panel did not include a member practicing in Hardy’s field of OB/GYN.

The Ad Hoc Committee panel upheld his suspension.

Hardy says that he has suffered economic damages and that as recently as October of last year, the Chesapeake Hospital Authority has interfered with his ability to get hospital privileges at other hospitals in the area.

The suit ultimately claims he has been denied property interests without due process of law in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments and demands a jury trial.