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Doctor suing Houston Methodist Hospital for $25 million
Dr. Mary Bowden has filed a $25 million lawsuit against Houston Methodist after being suspended last fall.
A doctor whose privileges were suspended at Houston Methodist Hospital last year is filing a $25 million lawsuit.
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, an ear, nose, and throat specialist who runs a private practice in River Oaks, announced the lawsuit on Monday morning.
In the lawsuit, Dr. Bowden alleges Houston Methodist Hospital and CEO Marc Boom made false and defamatory statements that harmed her reputation.
Dr. Bowden had provisional privileges at Houston Methodist Hospital. In November 2021, Houston Methodist confirmed that Dr. Bowden's privileges had been suspended, and in a series of tweets, accused Dr. Bowden of spreading information related to COVID-19 they called "harmful to the community." She resigned soon after.
In the series of tweets, Houston Methodist wrote that Dr. Bowden had been using her social media to express political opinions about the COVID-19 vaccine and treatments. Houston Methodist also wrote that Dr. Bowden had never admitted a patient at the hospital.
Dr. Bowden had tweeted that "Vaccine mandates are wrong" and shared about her battle to give her patients Ivermectin, a controversial drug hailed as a treatment for COVID-19 by some.
Houston Methodist said Dr. Bowden was "spreading dangerous misinformation which is not based in science."
The lawsuit claims, "Methodist and Boom retaliated against Dr. Bowden in an unprecedented manner. Without notice, they published false and defamatory statements to the press and on social media, affording no due process, acting contrary to and with reckless disregard for both the letter and spirit of Methodist’s bylaws."
In the lawsuit, Dr. Bowden asserts that her "opinions were not and are not harmful to patients or others in the community", and that she has had no serious adverse reactions from using Ivermectin. She also denies spreading "misinformation" and says she "published true facts with a scientific basis", according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Dr. Bowden lost patients, she and her business received negative Google reviews, and that her reputation as a physician was "severely compromised."
Houston Methodist Hospital has not issued a statement in response to the new lawsuit.