A Bradford oncologist was fired from his duties at Bradford
Regional Medical Center after officials discovered he was logging
onto more than 20 pornographic Web sites on hospital computers and
intentionally recorded wrong billing codes that cost the facility
money in insurance reimbursements, according to a lawsuit filed in
McKean County Court and exclusively obtained by The Era.

The doctor, Dr. Edward Miskiel, is also suing the hospital and
board of directors, according to documentation filed in Bucks
County Court Tuesday. In his claim, Miskiel, who was fired on Jan.
10, cites the hospital and board breached the employment contract
with him.

In a complaint filed Wednesday in McKean County Court, Bradford
Regional Medical Services and BRMC allege the oncologist was fired
due to a multitude of issues, including using hospital computers to
view sexually-oriented material, intentionally miscoding billing
codes for patient services in violation of hospital, state and
federal law and failure to maintain and complete adequate patient
medical records as required by law and hospital policy.

The lawsuit breaks down into three counts. The first count, BRMS
v. Miskiel, is for a breach of contract. The second count, BRMS v.
Miskiel, alleges unjust enrichment and the third count, BRMC v.
Miskiel, is also for breach of contract.

BRMS, a tax-exempt organization that operates physician
practices, contends that Miskiel violated the Standards of Conduct
expected of BRMS employees.

Those standards are: “maintain complete and accurate patient
medical records; keep information in medical records confidential;
assign billing codes that accurately reflect the services and
products that were provided; not misuse BRMC-owned equipment; not
engage in harassment or intimidation of other employees; and show
respect and consideration for others, regardless of status or
position.”

The complaint said that any violation of the Standards of
Conduct will be cause for disciplinary action, including
dismissal.

BRMS bills for physicians’ professional services and are solely
responsible for Miskiel’s salary, the complaint said.

Miskiel’s failure to keep accurate medical records is one reason
for his dismissal.

“BRMS needs accurate, complete, and timely medical records … to
permit it to obtain reimbursement from third-party payors for the
professional services rendered by Dr. Miskiel in order to have
revenue to pay Dr. Miskiel’s salary,” the complaint said.

In April of last year, BRMS noticed that a “significant number
of medical records” had no documentation or “included only a
handwritten note that was incomplete, cryptic and not in compliance
with the standard of care for medical recordkeeping.”

While Miskiel had been told about this numerous times, he
continued to have incomplete medical records, the complaint
said.

BRMS tried to provide Miskiel with a template to assist with
dictation, but he had failed to provide one prior to his
termination, the complaint said.

As of Oct. 21, 2005, Miskiel had a backlog of 527 patient visits
awaiting dictation.

To help Miskiel “complete his delinquent medical records,” BRMS
hired another physician to see patients from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4.
During that time Miskiel completed 74 patient encounters, according
to the complaint.

As of the date he was fired, Miskiel had 473 patient encounters,
but failed to provide any documentation involving 208 patients.

Miskiel also allegedly logged onto several pornographic Web
sites on BRMC-owned computers using a personal identification and
password. For a while, he shared the computer with a female BRMC
employee, who told him to stop what he was doing, according to the
complaint.

BRMC had to bring in First Consulting Group, who provides
computer maintenance services at BRMC, to take off a screensaver of
a naked woman and remove computer viruses, worms and other problems
brought on by Miskiel accessing the pornographic Web sites, the
complaint said.

After the screensaver was removed, Miskiel put it back on, the
complaint said. BRMC also blocked his use of the Internet.

“Shortly after Dr. Miskiel’s Internet access was restored, Dr.
Miskiel continued to repeatedly and inappropriately access
sexually-oriented Web sites on a BRMC-owned computer using the
Miskiel Personal ID and password in violation of the Internet Usage
Policy and the Standards of Conduct.”

The complaint lists 24 Web sites Miskiel allegedly viewed.

BRMS also alleges that Miskiel “intentionally failed” to
correctly code at least 101 patient encounters.

At one point, Miskiel apparently told a staff member he intended
to continue to incorrectly code reports. He also told this person
she could tell George Leonhardt, president of BRMC and BRMS, “if he
did not like it, he could come crawling on his knees to me to beg
me to change it.”

According to the complaint, all the while Miskiel was doing this
he was still receiving a full salary even though BRMS could not be
paid by insurance agencies because of improper coding.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to order repayment of salary
payments provided to Miskiel while the alleged performance issues
were occurring.

After his termination last month, many of Miskiel’s patients
have spoke out on his behalf, including signing petitions to have
in reinstated.

BRMC officials issued a statement Wednesday afternoon regarding
the suit, expressing concern for patients and the community during
this ongoing issue.

“For everyone’s sake, we had hoped to resolve this issue without
litigation and without detailing these types of facts in public
but, in the end, were unable to do so,” said Leonhardt, who is also
the chief executive officer of BRMC.

Leonhardt said that attorneys from both sides had been working
since the Jan. 10 termination announcement to reach an agreement
that could “provide our patients with some peace of mind and
closure on this matter.”

Miskiel told The Era that negotiations were “not
progressing.”

Two weeks following the termination, BRMC officials said their
attorney offered the physician an option that would have provided
him a way to continue to provide services in an independent
practice for patients who wanted to continue treatment with
him.

That option, hospital officials said, included completion of
medical records which are now named as part of the complaint filed
in McKean County Court.

“It’s unfortunate the offer … was not a realistic offer,” said
Miskiel, who was served with the complaint Wednesday.

Leonhardt declined to comment further on the court complaint due
to the ongoing litigation.

“We appreciate the support of our hospital family and community
as we maintain these important services for our patients,” he
said.

When asked if he was still willing to practice medicine in
Bradford, Miskiel said, “I am ready to go back to the fourth floor
of BRMC tomorrow.”

He added he’s been receiving calls at home from former patients
seeking his help.

To his patients he said, “continue treatments with the
physicians in my absence. Hopefully, I will be back to work
soon.”

Dr. Yahya Abdul-Fadl has been providing oncology services while
officials continue to look for a permanent replacement.

Both BRMC and BRMS are represented by Henry Casale of Horty,
Springer & Mattern, P.C., Pittsburgh. Miskiel is represented by
Douglas Maloney of Begley, Carlin & Mandio LLP of
Langhorne.

A jury trial is demanded.