Seattle – An arbitrator has awarded $17.5 million to a former Swedish Health neurosurgeon who said he was fired in retaliation for questioning the practices of another top surgeon.
The Seattle Times reported Dr. David Newell lost his job a year ago, and Swedish Health said he was fired for failing to notify the organization that he had been arrested and jailed in a Seattle prostitution sting. Swedish is challenging the arbitrator’s award.
In a statement Swedish’s CEO, Dr. Guy Hudson, said the arbitration amount was “unconscionable and outrageous.”
Newell said the prostitution issue was used as cover to get rid of him after he raised internal concerns about Dr. Johnny Delashaw, a star surgeon and the subject of a recent Seattle Times investigation, who subsequently resigned and had his license suspended.
