Two families have filed separate lawsuits against Manchester, N.H.-based Catholic Medical Center after their family members allegedly died during heart surgery, according to an Aug. 8 report from The New Hampshire Union Leader.
The suit alleges that the hospital failed to properly discipline cardiovascular surgeon Yvon Baribeau, MD, for "reckless behavior" after two other patients had died previously.
Despite reported issues, the lawsuit alleges that Catholic Medical Center kept Dr. Baribeau on because he brought in more money than other surgeons.
Dr. Baribeau has settled at least 20 New Hampshire malpractice cases between 1999 and 2021, according to the report. Seventeen were threatened malpractice claims presented at one time against Dr. Baribeau after his retirement in 2019.
One patient named in one of the recent lawsuits, Myron Louis Bishop Jr., allegedly died after complications from surgery performed by Dr. Baribeau in 2012. The second, John William Queen, allegedly died on the operating table after bleeding out in 2013.
"The defendant breached its patients' trust by failing to keep them safe and placing them at increased risk of harm by keeping Dr. Baribeau on the surgical schedule, turning a blind eye to the human cost of his malpractice in favor of CMC institutional profits," the lawsuits say.
Dr. Baribeau was found to have the largest number of malpractice payouts of any doctor in the past 20 years, but the board reported no malpractice payments made by him, according to the report.
The lawsuit alleges that the hospital knew Dr. Baribeau's morbidity and mortality rates were higher than those of his partners — at times more than double, and in 2005 more than nine times higher.
The lawsuits were filed by the two men's estates and seek compensation for injuries and losses.
Becker's has reached out to CMC for comment.