News in brief - July 26, 2004

Transplant surgeon's federal lawsuit against university dismissed - Sleep-deprived residents can still master surgery - Wis. society names first physician CEO

Transplant surgeon's federal lawsuit against university dismissed

A lawsuit by transplant surgeon Dr. Raymond Pollak alleging his employers retaliated against him after he said they fraudulently hospitalized patients in an attempt to move them up the liver-transplant waiting list has been dismissed.

A federal judge ruled that the University of Illinois Board of Trustees was "an arm of the state" and, therefore, was protected from being sued by an individual in federal court.

"We are very pleased with the decision," said UIC Associate Chancellor Mark Rosati.

Dr. Pollak's attorney, Laurie Wasserman, said the university "hid behind a legal technicality" and the judge's ruling "really has nothing to do with the merits of the case."

The former head of the multiorgan transplant program at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Dr. Pollak is a professor of surgery and head of the abdominal organ transplant program at the university's Peoria campus. He was seeking reinstatement to his former position.

Acting on Dr. Pollak's allegations, the federal government sued the University of Illinois at Chicago, which settled in November 2003, agreeing to pay more than $2.3 million.

Dr. Pollak also filed a defamation lawsuit against the university in Cook County Circuit Court, which is still pending.

Sleep-deprived residents can still master surgery

There are plenty of studies that measure the negative impact of sleep deprivation. The latest look at how sleep impacts learning, however, runs counter to this trend.

Researchers at Pennsylvania's Temple University School of Medicine found that the demanding schedules of surgical residents don't necessarily leave them too sleep deprived to learn.

A study published in the June Surgical Endoscopy found that short-term sleep deficits do not appear to hinder the acquisition of basic laparoscopic skills.

The study looked at 40 residents participating in surgical skills training in Temple's surgical training laboratory. The amount of sleep they'd had on the preceding night was recorded, they then underwent a pretest, training, practice and a posttest using basic tasks such as a cup drop and rope pass along with task-specific drills like pattern cutting, clip application and loop application. Time to completion, penalty score, and total score were assessed.

The study found that training in the lab resulted in significant improvement of basic laparoscopic skills and short-term sleep deficits did not appear to hinder the acquisition of these skills,

Temple has developed a surgical training laboratory and is building a new clinical simulation lab to give residents more opportunity to learn and practice surgical skills now that residents' work hours are limited to an average of 80 per week.

Wis. society names first physician CEO

Internist Susan Turney, MD, has been named chief executive officer and executive vice president of the Wisconsin Medical Society, a position traditionally held by a nonphysician executive. She is the only physician and the only woman to hold the CEO position in the society's 163 years.

Dr. Turney is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Madison Medical School. She is vice chair of the society's board of directors, and formerly chaired its health care access and finance council.

Dr. Turney also served on the Marshfield Clinic's board of directors and has been medical director of patient and financial services at the clinic since 1995.