This story by Nora Doyle-Burr was published by the Valley News on Jan. 2.
[C]ONCORD — A federal judge has granted a bid by the Dartmouth-Hitchcock health system to dismiss several claims in a lawsuit asserting that it illegally discriminated against a physician who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder when it fired her in 2015.
But three claims remain pending in a 2016 lawsuit filed against D-H by Lacey Colligan, a pediatrician and expert in patient safety issues, after a judge in U.S. District Court in Concord issued his order last month.
The remaining claims include denial of access to public accommodation, discrimination and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
“We are pleased that our core claims are going forward and we will be prepared to present the evidence supporting those claims at trial,” her attorney Bill Christie of the Concord-based firm Shaheen & Gordon said in an email on Wednesday.
Lebanon-based D-H declined comment “because the case is still under litigation,” spokeswoman Audra Burns said in an email on Wednesday.
The case centers around Colligan’s termination from a contracted position with D-H in 2015 following an exchange with the wife of John Birkmeyer, who was then a top D-H executive. He has since departed.
In the exchange, Colligan said, she attempted to warn Nancy Birkmeyer that she had seen a strange car in the driveway of their Hanover home, but the Birkmeyers instead interpreted the interaction as potentially threatening. Colligan lived nearby.
John Birkmeyer, who was the executive vice president for integrated delivery systems and chief academic officer and had become the face of a restructuring program that included layoffs, reported Colligan’s interaction with his wife to colleagues at D-H, according to New Hampshire District Judge Joseph DiClerico Jr.’s Dec. 17 order. D-H then severed ties with Colligan, who had been a contracted researcher there, and informed Geisel School of Medicine of her termination. Geisel then also ended Colligan’s employment as an adjunct faculty member there.
Colligan said in her 2016 lawsuit filed in federal court in Concord that her behavior in the exchange with Nancy Birkmeyer was influenced by Colligan’s PTSD — stemming from trauma related to her 21-year-old daughter’s death in 2012 — and which D-H officials knew about, and that her abrupt termination violated state and federal laws against discrimination and coercion.
DiClerico, however, ruled that Colligan, a 1991 graduate of the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, had not provided evidence sufficient to prove that “disability discrimination was the sole reason for her termination.”
He also effectively dismissed federal and state claims related to interference, coercion and intimidation; as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation and false light.
But DiClerico’s ruling leaves the door open for Colligan to seek an injunction to permit her to access medical services at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center without checking in with security before arriving, a requirement D-H imposed when she was terminated in September 2015.
Though Colligan and her husband, John, have since relocated to Massachusetts, at least in part so that she can receive medical care there, DiClerico acknowledged the family’s ongoing connection to the Upper Valley — they have family and friends in the area, and they still own a home in Hanover — and their desire to return.
DiClerico also indicated that D-H’s immediate response to Colligan’s interaction with Nancy Birkmeyer to restrict Colligan’s access to medical services at DHMC and its refusal to reconsider that action “is evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s perception of Colligan’s mental disability, rather than any actual threat, motivated or partially motivated Dartmouth-Hitchcock to impose and maintain its restriction.”
“As a result, a factual dispute remains as to whether Dartmouth-Hitchcock discriminated against Colligan because of her disability,” DiClerico added later in the ruling.
Lastly, DiClerico said, it remains to be determined whether D-H, through the alleged discrimination, inflicted emotional distress.
In addition, in a request for reconsideration filed on Monday, Colligan is asking the court to take another look at two other claims related to state and federal laws that prohibit interference in a person’s access to rights protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act, in this case Colligan’s access to D-H’s medical facilities.
Though a trial is set to begin on March 19, DiClerico urged both parties to resolve the dispute beforehand.
“Before the parties and the court spend the considerable time and resources necessary to prepare for trial, the parties are expected to use their best efforts to resolve all or part of the remaining claims,” DiClerico wrote.
