Whistleblower physician awarded $26 million for wrongful termination

An emergency medicine physician, who complained about understaffing issues in his emergency department, has been awarded $26 million in a wrongful termination lawsuit.

Raymond Brovont, MD, says he was fired by his employer, EmCare, an emergency department hospital staffing company. Brovont had been hired by EmCare to work in the emergency departments of Overland Park (Kansas) Regional Medical Center in  and Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence, Missouri. Brovont filed complaints about understaffing, stating that at both hospitals, there was only one physician covering both the regular and pediatric emergency departments overnight. EmCare was responsible for staffing decisions of the emergency departments. According to Brovont’s lawsuit against EmCare, he filed a formal complaint on September 30, 2016 about concerns with staffing, but no changes were made. He says he was instead told to resign, and when he didn’t, he was fired in January 2017.  

Brovont filed suit against EmCare, and in 2018, was awarded $29 million. After appeals by both sides, Brovont was finally awarded $26 million this week.