A Washoe County jury awarded Saint Mary’s Health Network over $510 million, including punitive damages, from Universal Health Services of Delaware, Inc., (UHS).
The jury heard evidence that, beginning in 2019, UHS solicited physicians and senior leaders, stole trade secrets, and triggering a mass resignation that disrupted patient care.
UHS was found liable for fraud, malice, and oppression against Saint Mary’s Health Network after a scheme during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Evidence also included internal emails and text messages showing that UHS executives plotted to dismantle Saint Mary’s, a 117-year-old community institution rescued from closure by Prime Healthcare in 2012, according to Saint Mary.
Jurors unanimously found that UHS:
Illegally solicit Saint Mary’s physicians and employeesOrchestrate a mass resignation eventBreach contracts and duties of loyalty to Saint Mary’sDisrupt patient care and relationshipsPull Quote
“This verdict affirms that the weaponization of corporate power, betrayal of physician trust, theft of proprietary information, and reckless endangerment of patients will not be tolerated.”
-Derrick Glum, MBA, FACHE, CEO of Saint Mary’s Health Network.