Clinic severing ties with patients suing former spine surgeon

A clinic that provides basic medical services for residents in southeastern South Dakota and northeastern Nebraska is withdrawing care to patients who are suing a former spine surgeon and the doctors who credentialed him.

The Yankton Medical Clinic is not a party to the lawsuits against Dr. Allen Sossan, but some of the doctors who work at the clinic were on the credentialing committee that allowed Sossan to practice medicine at Avera Sacred Heart. At least a half-dozen doctors who practice at the clinic are parties to the lawsuits for their role in granting surgical privileges to Sossan at Sacred Heart.

Patients who filed suit and who also go to the Yankton Medical Clinic were notified by letter late last month that the clinic and its more than four dozen health providers are severing their relationships. The patients were informed that the clinic will cease treating them after Sept. 23.

“This is due to the breakdown of the physician-provider/patient relationship, in particular, your filing a lawsuit against a YMC, PC physician-provider and/or YMC, PC,” the letter says. The notice also bars these patients from the Vermillion Medical Clinic and the Yankton Medical Clinic Pharmacy.

Dr. James Young, a dermatologist and president of the Yankton clinic, signed the letters, which were dated Aug. 24. Young said he didn’t know how many patients were affected, putting the number at a “few.” There are approximately three dozen lawsuits against Sossan, but not all of them include the doctors who credentialed Sossan at Sacred Heart.

Young said the decision to terminate relationships with the patients follows a longstanding policy at the clinic. He added that it’s not unusual for medical facilities to have such a policy.

More:Dr. Allen Sossan coverage

“Sir, all I know is those people filed suit against our doctors,” he said.

But Steve Johnson, a Sioux Falls lawyer with decades of experience trying and defending medical malpractice suits, said he is not aware of a situation in which a medical facility cut off services to patients.

“I think it’s a little unusual and rare for sure,” Johnson said.

Typically, he added, patients are the ones who pull the plug on a physician-patient relationship.

“Generally speaking, doctors practice medicine and they let the lawyers handle the legal part of it,” Johnson said.

The decision means that the patients who are being cut off will have to find new medical providers. In rural South Dakota and Nebraska, that could require patients to have to travel long distances for basic medical care.

Tim Bockholt, and his sister Judith, were among the patients who are being banned by the Yankton Medical Clinic. The Bockholts’ mother died after undergoing more than a dozen surgeries by Sossan in a year.

Tim Bockholt sees a cardiologist and a family practice doctor at Yankton Medical Clinic. None of the doctors who are being sued for credentialing Sossan provide care to either he or his sister, he said.

Bockholt now faces the prospect of traveling 50 miles to Norfolk, Neb., or 70 miles to Dakota Dunes. The travel will be harder for his sister, who suffered a stroke three years ago.

“She’s not that good at driving into those big cities because she can’t distinguish lefts from rights very well,” he said.

In a motion filed in court last week, Mary Weibel, another patient who is being released by the Yankton Medical Clinic, accused the clinic of using intimidation tactics because she is also suing Sossan. The motion noted that Weibel filed her lawsuit in February, and it accuses the Yankton Medical Clinic of violating a state law that bars corporations from interfering with physician treatment of patients.

Weibel, through a brother, declined to comment.

Health providers have been known to end their relationships with disruptive patients and patients who have not paid bills. At other times, they will sever their relations with patients who don’t take medicines or follow treatment instructions.

The American Medical Association has an ethical code dictating that physicians have an obligation to support continuity of care for patients. “While physicians have the option of withdrawing from a case, they cannot do so without giving notice to the patient, the relatives, or responsible friends sufficiently long in advance of withdrawal to permit another medical attendant to be secured,” the code says.

Jonathan Van Patten, a law professor at the University of South Dakota School of Law, said that someone suing a doctor in a medical practice might be reason enough for the entire practice to part ways with the patient.

“That seems to be enough of a reason to say no,” Van Patten said.

“You don’t have a right to do business with a professional,” he added. “It’s a two-way street.”

Randy Bury, the chief administrative officer for Sanford Health’s health services division, said in a statement that Sanford tries to work with patients even if they have a legal action against the system. Sanford also follows state and federal regulations on terminating patient relationships.

“It is uncommon for physicians to terminate a relationship with a patient,” Bury said. “In those unfortunate situations where it happens, we have policies/procedures to ensure that every effort was made to maintain continuity of care for the patient. At Sanford, we do everything possible to work with the patients regardless of the situation, including those difficult circumstances where legal action is underway.”

Lindsey Meyers, a spokeswoman for Avera Health, said in an email that the issue of terminating patient relations depends on the situation, the facility and the provider.

For Tim Bockholt, the decision to terminate his care means he and his sister have a daunting task of finding new providers. Both of them have health problems, and for Bockholt, who was born in Yankton 64 years ago, he now has to go outside of the place where he has always received basic medical care.

“They’re discriminating against us and we’ve never had anything to do with them,” he said. “We’ve never hurt them in any way I know of.”

More about Sossan

Dr. Allen Sossan began performing surgeries in Yankton in about 2008 to 2012. He practiced at both the Lewis & Clark Specialty Hospital, where he was an owner, and Avera Sacred Heart. Dozens of former patients or their relatives have filed lawsuits alleging he botched their spine surgeries. Last month, a judge unsealed an arrest warrant and grand jury indictment for perjury and filing a false document. The indictment stems from Sossan failing to disclose felony convictions for burglary and bad checks on his application for a South Dakota medical license. Sossan, who went by the name Alan Soosan before the convictions, is currently residing in Iran.