Indian American Cardiologist Dr. Sanjay Vohra, M.D. has gone to court for losing privileges at the local hospital.  

Dr. Vohra was granted Medical Staff membership and clinical privileges at Siena/Rose de Lima Campus in 1996, and the San Martin Campus in 2006.  In August 2020 Dr. Vohra filed his reappointment applications for continuing medical privileges at both hospitals. As per the lawsuit, Dr. Vohra received a letter in January 2021 from Irwin Simon, M.D., the Credential Chairman of the St. Rose Hospitals, stating that some issues needed further review and that Dr. Vohra will only be reappointed for one month at both campuses. 

The lawsuit states that as per the hospital bylaws, the medical executive committees may defer making a recommendation for further consideration, and such decision to defer the application shall be followed with a subsequent favorable or adverse recommendation.

Subsequently, in March 2021, the defendant (St. Rose) issued a letter to Dr. Vohra informing him that the medical committees have reviewed his reappointment application, including information from the peer review committees concerning various unsupported issues they allegedly have with Dr. Vohra. 

The March letter also stated that to be reappointed, Dr. Vohra must be removed from the ER call schedule; register for anger management; remain on the focused physician practice evaluation; be required to seek reappointment to the respective medical staffs in one year; and be required to enter into a Privilege Retention Agreement (PRA).

The agreement states that Dr. Vohra must abide by all of the conditions (zero tolerance) and that if he fails to strictly comply with any of the conditions, such failure shall be considered appropriate grounds to immediately summarily suspend or terminate his medical staff membership and clinical privileges, and/or invoke other disciplinary action.

The agreement also stipulates if Dr. Vohra fails to comply with any of the privilege retention conditions, his privileges can be immediately suspended or terminated and he shall have NO rights to a fair hearing or appellate review.

On March 23, 2021, the counsel for the hospital informed Dr. Vohra that his privileges at both campuses expireon March 28, 2021.

It is alleged that the hospital failed to provide Dr. Vohra his the procedural rights provided in the bylaws.   Dr. Vohra’s federal rights were invoked under the Federal Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA). The Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 is, ostensibly, meant to protect the public from incompetent physicians by allowing those physicians on peer review committees to communicate in an open and honest environment and thus weed out incompetent physicians, without the specter of a retaliatory lawsuit by the reviewed physician. Dr. Vohra’s legal team is claiming that once his federal HCQIA rights were invoked, he must be given a fair hearing regarding his privileges.

Dr. Vohra’s attorney strongly believe that he will suffer irreparable harm as he will be unable to practice medicine at the defendant’s hospitals, his ability to practice medicine at other hospitals in the community will be further jeopardized, and his professional reputation will be further damaged in the Las Vegas medical community among patients and fellow physicians. Moreover, Dr. Vohra’s patients will be irreparably harmed in that they will not receive the continuity of care from their chosen doctor based solely upon the defendant’s thinly-veiled attempt to revoke or deny Dr. Vohra’s privileges without providing him a fair hearing.