Dive Brief:
- The former chief medical officer of Banner Health is suing the company for wrongful termination, the Phoenix Business Journal reported.
- According to Mark Starling, the health system fired him after he refused to leave voluntarily.
- Starling filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.
Dive Insight:
In the lawsuit, Starling alleges Banner management first asked him when he planned to retire in 2014. When he wouldn’t go on his own, they began criticizing his performance and subjected him to a drug/alcohol test while at a company party.
Starling, who is in his late 60s, was fired in late 2015.
The complaint notes Banner recruited Starling as CMO in 2004, and Banner Heart Hospital gave him the Guardian Award in 2014.
The ex-CMO is seeking to be reinstated, or, if not, for a lump sum front pay award.