A physician was fired over his court testimony. A Massachusetts appeals court just revived key parts of his lawsuit against the hospital.
The Appeals Court held on September 11, 2026, that a former Boston Medical Center (BMC) physician can take two claims tied to his 2021 termination back to trial. It affirmed the dismissal of his other claims. The result was mixed - neither side won outright.
The dispute sits at an intersection HR leaders rarely plan for: an employee's outside expert testimony, and how far an employer can go in restricting it. BMC ended the physician's staff appointment after finding he had breached limits on his clinical privileges. Those limits barred him from diagnosing young children with a connective tissue disorder in clinical settings, and from using research diagnoses in outside court testimony. The physician, once the hospital's chief of endocrinology, had testified for years in child abuse cases that unexplained fractures could stem from a bone-fragility condition rather than abuse.
He sued on three counts: retaliation under the state's health care whistleblower law, breach of contract based on the hospital's medical staff bylaws, and discharge in violation of public policy. A Superior Court judge had granted the hospital summary judgment on all three.
The Appeals Court split the outcome. It upheld dismissal of his claim that he was punished for "disclosing" or "objecting to" a practice he believed violated professional standards, because he...
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