Surgeon says he was wrongly put on leave then fired

WESTON – A longtime Lewis County surgeon says he is being subjected to discrimination and retaliation following an anonymous Facebook post.

Dr. Ronald Pearson Jr. filed his complaint last month in Lewis Circuit Court against Monongalia County General Hospital Company and Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital Company. The defendants are joint employers of Pearson.

In the original verified complaint, Pearson also said he expects the defendants to terminate him without sufficient cause, which he says would be an unjustified and illegal breach of his employment agreement.

According to a subsequent filing on August 6, the hospital did terminate him employment.

By preventing him from practicing and treating his patients, he says the defendants’ actions would cause irreparable harm to him, the community and the hospital.

He is asking the court to enter an injunction to allow him to return to work immediately.

According to the complaint, Pearson has worked for more than 20 years at Stonewall Hospital, which is operated by Mon General. Pearson says he previously was the only full-time general surgeon assigned to work at Stonewall, which he says is in an underserved area.

In April, Pearson says he entered into a three-year employment agreement. On May 7, Pearson was notified by Human Resources that it had found an anonymous social media post stating he had a tremor.

“This Facebook post was then treated as a meritorious complaint by defendants, and plaintiff Dr. Pearson’s medical staff privileges were immediately limited. He was then suspended from all surgical privileges with the exception of scopes, which interfered with plaintiff Dr. Pearson’s patient relationships.”

Pearson says the limitations on his privileges never were approved by the hospital’s medical executive committee, and he says he never had a chance to present before a committee before his privileges were limited.

Later on May 7, Pearson met with CEO David Goldberg, Chief Administrative Officer Lisa Songer, Emergency Room and Trauma Director Dr. Robert Snuffer and Vice President of Medical Affairs Dr. Mary Edwards. During the meeting, Pearson says he was told he would be required to undergo a medical evaluation before Goldberg and Edwards said he could be personally subjected to malpractice liability if he didn’t undergo the medical evaluation.

Pearson told the administrators they were putting several patients’ care at risk by limiting his privileges.

“It was clear during this meeting that plaintiff Dr. Pearson was being perceived as disabled by defendants’ administration and that if he did not undergo another medical evaluation, he would lose his employment,” the complaint states. “This was illegal behavior by defendants because they did not have a legitimate reason to require him to submit to any medical evaluation.”

On May 8, Songer told Pearson he would be required to go for a mandatory two-day fitness for duty medical evaluation at LifeGuard in Mechanicsburg, Pa. The evaluation was a full medical evaluation, and he had to pay more than $8,000 for it.

On May 10, a job posting for Pearson’s position was posted on Indeed and DocCafe. On May 12, Pearson told Songer he wanted a confirmation letter so he could return to work if he passed the evaluation, but she refused to say that letter would be provided.

Pearson had the evaluation May 13 and 14, and he was declared fit for duty as a general surgeon. He returned to work May 19.

On June 6, Pearson was placed on administrative leave by Vice President of Physician Services Karen Friggens and Dr. Bradford Warden “for unspecified issues.”

“During this meeting, plaintiff Dr. Pearson asked for details of any complaints and investigation issues which were not given to him,” the complaint states, adding he “has never been given an opportunity to respond to the alleged complaint(s) and investigation.”

Pearson says he has been locked out of his charts and can’t finish chartering for his patients, which he says is detrimental to patient care.

On July 3, Pearson’s attorneys were told the defendants would be terminating his 2025 employment agreement, but he says “no justifiable cause exists for such a termination.”

Pearson accuses the defendants of violating the West Virginia Patient Safety Act of 2001, disability discrimination in violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act, disability retaliation, anticipatory breach and breach of 2025 employment agreement and tortious interference with the physician-patient relationship.

He seeks a motion for emergency preliminary injunction both temporary and permanent directing the defendants to cease and desist from refusing to allow him to practice medicine at Stonewall Hospital.

Pearson also seeks compensatory, emotional and punitive damages as well as pre- and post-judgment interests, court costs, attorney fees and other relief.

The defendants have filed a motion to dismiss, and a hearing is scheduled for August 8 before Circuit Judge D. Andrew McMunn.

Pearson is being represented by Joseph L. Amos Jr. and Karen H. Miller of Miller & Amos in Charleston. The defendants are being represented by Tamala J. White-Farrell of Farrell & Farrell in Huntington.

Lewis Circuit Court case number 25-C-33