Doctor Accuses Sacred Heart Of Spying Hospital Attorneys Say Frazier Is Being Followed ‘For Security Purposes’

A Spokane doctor embroiled in a dispute with Sacred Heart Medical Center is accusing the hospital of spying on him and making false reports about him to state officials.

Dr. Mark Frazier, accused of threatening to kill the director of Sacred Heart’s kidney center, said in court documents filed last week that people hired by the hospital have harassed him “without let up” for more than a week.

He leveled those accusations as his attorneys and those for Sacred Heart tried to clear the way for Frazier to enter treatment at a Kansas psychiatric program.

Sacred Heart attorneys, during a short but heated hearing Friday, acknowledged the hospital has been trailing Frazier “for security purposes.” During the hearing, Spokane Superior Court Judge Michael Donohue denied Frazier’s request for an injunction against Sacred Heart.

The fight between Sacred Heart and Frazier centers on death threats he allegedly made against the hospital’s kidney center director, Dr. Curtis Wickre. Wickre has said that Frazier’s repeated threats are rooted in jealousy.

Frazier’s Spokane attorney, Charles Rohr, sought a restraining order Friday against Sacred Heart, saying his client needs help but has become the victim of “a hidden agenda by the hospital.”

“He’s an impaired man, there’s no doubt about that,” Rohr told a Spokane County judge.

“We just don’t want them (Sacred Heart) badgering him and stressing him to the point that he maybe takes a drink, and violates his court order.”

Frazier last week signed a legal agreement saying he would leave Spokane and undergo treatment at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kan.

As part of that agreement, Frazier also agreed to not drink alcohol, not own or possess guns, not visit Sacred Heart and not call or approach Wickre.

Wickre, said Frazier, 50, has told several hospital staff of his intent to kill Wickre.

Because of those verbal threats, Frazier was arrested on June 9 and charged with criminal harassment and interference with a health care facility.

Rohr said Frazier is innocent of those charges and has not threatened to kill Wickre.

In addition to the criminal charges, Frazier is being investigated by state officials on charges of medical misconduct. A federal agency also has been investigating Frazier, in connection with Medicare and Medicaid billing practices.

Frazier said he will leave for the Menninger Clinic later this week. He could not leave until attorneys secured a guarantee from the Kansas clinic that it will contact Sacred Heart when Frazier enters treatment and when or if he leaves.

Both sides have said treatment at Menninger - a nationally known psychiatric center - could bring to an end a tortured relationship among Frazier, Wickre and Sacred Heart directors.

On June 4, Sacred Heart withdrew patient privileges for Frazier - in effect banning him from seeing kidney patients at Spokane’s largest medical center.

They took that action after several nurses and another Spokane doctor said they heard Frazier make threats against Wickre.

Frazier is an avid gun collector. His arms stockpile includes several automatic weapons and laser-beam gun sights, according to court documents.

Friday’s court hearing ended with Donohue warning Sacred Heart attorney Roger Chase that the hospital may be opening itself to a lawsuit by infringing on Frazier’s privacy.

Chase acknowledged that people hired by the hospital are observing Frazier’s actions.

He said later that Frazier knows of the observation. “This is being done in an obvious manner. And it is because of hospital security,” Chase said.

Chase denied a second suggestion by Rohr, that Sacred Heart had illegally gathered information about Frazier and given it to state officials who regulate physicians.

Rohr said Frazier had been talking last week to a state official from an agency that assists doctors overcoming legal or medical troubles.

The state official then told Frazier that she knew he had been drinking in violation of his recent court order.

She said she had a copy of a recent restaurant receipt showing that Frazier had paid for alcohol during a meal.

Rohr hotly insisted that the information sent to the state was false.

Chase denied Sacred Heart had obtained information about Frazier illegally. He did not deny that Sacred Heart officials contacted the state official with information about Frazier.

After Friday’s hearing, Chase said, “We have not done anything that is illegal.”

The hospital, under state law, has an obligation to make reports on questionable practices of behavior of physicians, he pointed out.

As state officials have already started an inquiry into Frazier’s practice, Sacred Heart is “obligated to report things regarding practitioners that may be important.”

Both Chase and Rohr agreed that once Frazier gets to Kansas, the legal skirmishes should end.

The length of care, added Rohr, depends entirely on the evaluation Frazier receives from the Menninger medical staff.

, DataTimes