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Former OHSU neurosurgeon and top Oregon PERS recipient Johnny Delashaw resigned from the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle after an investigation by The Seattle Times raised questions about his surgical practices.

((Bill Wagner / The Daily News))

Johnny Delashaw - a neurosurgeon whose $663,354 a year payout makes him Oregon's most expensive public pensioner - has resigned from a Seattle medical center after an investigation called his surgery practices into question.

Delashaw, a top producing brain and spinal surgeon, left Oregon Health & Science University in 2012 after a lucrative 20-year career. He joined the Swedish Neuroscience Institute in Seattle in 2013 after a brief stint in California, and resigned Wednesday after a Seattle Times investigation that prompted a state review of the institute's surgical practices and the resignation of its chief executive.

The Feb. 10 report found that in his first 16 months at Swedish, Delashaw became the most prolific brain and spine surgeon in Washington, handling 661 inpatient cases that generated $86 million in charges for the hospital.

During that same period, the newspaper found, Delashaw faced 49 internal complaints from staff members tied to concerns about the quality of his patient care and unprofessional behavior.

Delashaw was nevertheless appointed to lead the institute, a move that prompted the head of the hospital's internal committee on surgical quality to step down in protest.

The CEO of Swedish Health Services, Tony Armada, resigned on Feb. 21.

Under Delashaw's leadership, the institute continued to crank up the volumes of surgery cases. Part of the paper's investigation focused on Talia Goldenberg, a Eugene native who died in 2014 after complications from a spinal surgery performed by Delashaw.

Delawshaw did not respond to calls for comment Friday by The Oregonian/OregonLive. He did send lengthy responses to The Seattle Times. In it, he acknowledged that the growth and changes at the institute had been met with resistance.

"Some have become disgruntled and some of these health care providers have left," Delashaw told The Times. "When there is a change in culture it is commonplace for individuals to complain through the anonymous complaint system."

Swedish Medical Center told The Times that the neurological institute significantly outperformed national standards for patient mortality, and that Delashaw performed at national expectations for patient mortality.

Delashaw is the highest grossing recipient of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System. He retired in 2015 with an annualized benefit of $663,354 - or $55,280 a month. That eclipsed the former leading PERS recipient, former University of Oregon football coach Mike Bellotti, whose annual benefit was $536,995.

Delashaw earned nearly $1.8 million at OHSU in Portland in 2011 and nearly $2 million in 2010, according to records released to The Oregonian/OregonLive by OHSU.

The Seattle Times investigation found that during Delashaw's final 14 years at OHSU he was named a defendant in 12 lawsuits, five of which were settled. Six cases were either dropped or ended in the doctor's favor.

During his brief stint at the University of California in Irvine, colleagues flagged more than 40 Delashaw cases that concerned them, The Times investigation found. He was the focus of an internal investigation and faced allegations of "unnecessary surgeries" and high rates of complications among patients, the report said.

- Ted Sickinger

tsickinger@oregonian.com

503-221-8505;@tedsickinger