CLEVELAND — As of Monday, University Hospitals is staring down the barrel at a lawsuit for defamation and wrongful termination.
RELATED: 2 University Hospitals pediatricians fired for sending unsolicited texts to other doctors
On June 19, Dr. Lauren Beene and Dr. Valerie Fouts-Fowler were placed on administrative leave, according to the pair. Five days later, they were both terminated from UH.
UH issued a statement to us then: "UH recently learned that the personal data of more than 4,000 providers was improperly accessed. An investigation was launched following complaints from physicians about receiving unsolicited texts on their personal phones. The investigation determined some UH physicians improperly used a proprietary UH care coordination application. Once in the app, these providers accessed the personal data of thousands of their colleagues."
UH added: "The improper use of proprietary UH personnel data creates a risk to care coordination that we cannot tolerate. Physicians have now expressed concern about sharing personal information, which could jeopardize the seamless care coordination UH strives to provide."
Fouts-Fowler and Beene admit to sending texts to UH physicians but claim it was in an effort to unionize for an improved healthcare system.
News 5 briefly spoke with UH CEO Cliff Megerian in July about their firing.
He told us, "They were found to have inappropriately downloaded nearly 5,000 doctors who work at UH... personal information for reasons other than direct patient care. It's a violation of at least five of our policies."
When I asked UH for specific policies that were broken, UH wouldn't provide any.
"By your own reporting, they intend to sue. I don’t know that sharing internal policy documents adds clarity beyond what we’ve already said. UH began an investigation because of complaints from UH physicians about being sent unsolicited text messages. The investigation determined these two physicians went into a care coordination app, accessed the personal data of 4,000 colleagues, and repeatedly sent them unsolicited text messages that had nothing to do with care coordination," UH Vice President of Communications, Michael Tobin, previously told me.
Meanwhile, the two fired physicians have stood firm in that their termination is retaliatory.
"There really is no way for people on the front lines of healthcare to speak up when they see something is not working the way that it should or that something's dangerous without fear of retaliation," Beene previously said.
A Cuyahoga County lawsuit filed on behalf of Beene and Fouts-Fowler indicates they were fired due to several complaints they raised.
"Beginning in 2024, Drs. Beene and Fouts-Fowler began raising complaints about a number of hospital administration issues that they believed posed serious risks both to patient well-being and to the ability of physicians employed by the UH system to practice medicine consistent with established standards of care," the lawsuit said.
According to records, the initial concerns involved the sale of UH labs to a commercial outpatient laboratory, which "proved to be an issue that galvanized many physicians."
"Drs. Beene and Fouts-Fowler spent several weeks discussing these concerns with their physician colleagues from across the UH system. As part of those discussions, Drs. Beene and Fouts-Fowler started collecting signatures for a petition to be presented to the Defendants protesting the sale of the UH labs to the commercial outpatient laboratory," the lawsuit said.
One way the two doctors communicated with their colleagues and other UH-affiliated physicians about the petition was by texting them through their personal cell phone numbers, which they found using the UH Provider App, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that whenever a colleague asked the pair stop texting them, they would.
"Drs. Beene and Fouts-Fowler later learned that Defendants (UH) were tracking and surveilling their use of the UH Provider App and the number of colleague profiles that they were looking up," the lawsuit said.
UH allegedly ignored the complaints of hundreds of physicians during the process of selling and transitioning to the outpatient laboratory.
No one is being silenced. There is not one issue that UH leaders ducked, ignored, or did not seek to address with each physician involved. In fact, when these two physicians expressed concerns, UH leaders offered to meet with them in person. These physicians chose not to meet. Many other physicians raise concerns that are addressed daily — all done without improperly accessing thousands of their colleagues’ personal data and sending them unsolicited text messages.
Another concern allegedly brought up to UH leadership was that there was severe understaffing at the Emergency Room of the UH Ahuja Medical Center.
That concern was brought up by Beene in February 2025, according to the complaint filed on Monday.
"Dr. Beene emailed her complaint to Dr. Jessica Goldstein, Chief Medical Officer of the UH Ahuja Medical Center, and Dr. Nicole Maronian, President of UHMG. They responded, dismissing Dr. Beene’s concerns," the lawsuit said.
There were also concerns about the unavailability of standard childhood vaccines due to unpaid invoices, per the lawsuit.
"In May 2025, Drs. Beene and Fouts-Fowler complained over email to Defendants’ leadership about the unavailability of standard childhood vaccines, an issue that impacted numerous other UH-affiliated pediatricians. UH-affiliated pediatricians were unable to order these vaccines because UH administrators repeatedly failed to timely pay invoices to the vaccine supplier," records state. "On behalf of themselves and their colleagues, Drs. Beene and Fouts-Fowler sent an email about this issue to Dr. Topalsky, Dr. Maronian, Dr. Megerian, Dr. Pronovost, and UH Chief Financial Officer Bradley Bond."
The lawsuit also claims there were concerns regarding shortages of Intrathecal Baclofen in May 2025.
"In late May 2025, shortly before they were fired, Drs. Beene and Fouts-Fowler raised written complaints about Defendants’ failure to maintain adequate supplies of intrathecal baclofen," the lawsuit said. "Intrathecal baclofen is a life-sustaining medication for patients with severe spasticity resulting from conditions such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, or spinal cord injury. In their May 2025 email, Drs. Beene and Fouts-Fowler explained that this failure to maintain appropriate levels of this life-saving medication not only presented a major safety concern, but also could subject Defendants and UH-affiliated physicians to malpractice liability by any affected patients."
All of these instances were allegedly the reason behind the pair accessing personnel information — to try and improve patient care.
Other physicians allegedly used the same app to access their co-workers’ phone numbers to organize a baby shower and sell Girl Scout cookies without facing discipline.
Once the pair were fired, the lawsuit claims UH began a "smear campaign" through News 5 and UH's workforce.
The lawsuit claims UH breached both physicians' contracts for not providing advance written notice first, defamation, wrongful discharge in violation of public policy, and invalidation of unlawful restrictive covenants in Ohio.
Beene and Fouts-Fowler are asking that the Court:
- Declare that UHMP breached Plaintiffs’ employment contracts;
- Declare that all Defendants defamed Plaintiffs;
- Declare that UHMP wrongfully discharged Plaintiffs in violation of Ohio public policy;
- Declare that the non-compete and non-solicitation provisions of Plaintiffs’ employment contracts with UHMP are invalid and unenforceable;
- Order Plaintiffs’ immediate reinstatement to their employment with UHMP;
- Enjoin Defendants from committing any further violations of law, including further false statements that Plaintiffs engaged in theft, violated HIPAA, or compromised patient privacy or care;
I reached out to UH for a response on the lawsuit.
"We don’t comment on pending litigation," Tobin told me.
