Dr. Albert Kadri has broken his silence since the prominent Windsor kidney specialist began a legal battle with Windsor Regional Hospital.
Kadri filed a statement of claim against the hospital and several current and former executives back in January - declining comment until he spoke to AM800 News at his office on Ouellette Ave. Saturday.
The lawsuit includes current President and CEO David Musyj as well as former CEO Ken Deane and numerous others.
Kadri, who's practiced in Windsor since 1999, tells AM800 News he had his privileges at Windsor Regional suspended in the fall because he refused to fall in line with changes in billing and patient care.
"The hospital began to make changes that effected patient care that I disagreed with," he says. "I believe that they targeted me with regards to suspending my privileges as a result of my opposition to what they were doing."
He says he was uncomfortable treating patients he had little to no history with.
"A single comprehensive dialysis fee code for out-patients not referred to me, who I'm not familiar with and who are not expecting or consenting to a complete takeover of their outpatient care on a rotating basis," says Kadri.
Kadri says, at the end of the day, he refuses to practice medicine that way.
"I felt that if I complied with the hospitals demand that I would not be billing appropriately according to my own ethical principles," he says. "My interaction with these patients that I was unfamiliar with last only one to three minutes at a time, and I thought this would pose a greater risk to patients."
A statement from the hospital says the suspension has no impact on Kadri’s ability to see patients in his own private practice.
Kadri has requested a hearing in accordance with the Public Hospitals Act — that hearing is scheduled to start in late October.