Former Memorial CEO's lawsuit against hospital unsealed - WTOC-TV: Savannah, Beaufort, SC, News, Weather & Sports

A former CEO's lawsuit is revealing allegations against Memorial University Health System, which it is denying.

The lawsuit, which was filed three years ago, and complaint under the Whistleblower's Act was unsealed on Tuesday morning and claims Memorial Health was overpaying its physicians, violating anti-kickback laws and knew their practices were resulting in numerous fraudulent claims.

The lawsuit and complaint were filed by former Memorial CEO Philip Scheangold in 2011. He was fired in January of 2011 after a year and eight months on the job.

The lawsuit claims wrongful termination and false claims, tainted patient referrals and violations of fraud and abuse anti-kickback law, among other claims.

Memorial Health's current Board of Director's chairman denies the allegations.

Board Chair Bill Daniel told WTOC when Schaengold was terminated in January 2011, "We deeply, deeply respected many of the accomplishments Phil has produced as a result of his leadership in the last 18 months, but we had some fundamental disagreements as to direction we felt the hospital needed to go."

That was in 2011, and on Wednesday night, Memorial's current board of director's chairman released a statement to WTOC. Memorial also sent out an email to employees explaining the situation.

Memorial officials go on to say Schaengold originally sued Memorial for wrongful termination but lost in arbitration. As a result, he received no pay-out of severance.

After Savannah Schaengold worked for a hospital in Hoboken, NJ before ending up with a consulting firm in Naples, FL. WTOC was not able to reach him for comment.

Copyright 2014 WTOC. All rights reserved.