ATLANTA - A New York doctor says he was promised a top administrative position at Grady Memorial Hospital only to have the offer revoked after he quit his job and moved to Atlanta.
Dr. William Bithoney is demanding $612,500 from the financially unstable hospital in severance pay, according to a letter to the hospital from his attorney, Daniel Klein.
Grady officials blame the situation on former Grady CEO Otis Story, who they say hired Bithoney as the hospital's senior vice president of administration without board approval.
Documents released by the hospital this week under an open records request show that Story's firing a few months later was in part because of the incident with Bithoney. Pam Stephenson, Grady interim chief executive and chairwoman of the hospital board, says Bithoney knew the deal wasn't final when he moved to Atlanta.
Bithoney quit his job as physician in chief at New York's Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers and bought a home in Fayetteville in October after being offered the job by Story on Aug. 30. Klein says the 57-year-old doctor and his wife are living in their suburban Atlanta home while he searches for work.
Stephenson says the hospital will not ask Bithoney to repay the $20,000 given to him for moving expenses.
Story also is demanding money from the hospital for severance pay. He says he's done nothing wrong and wants $2 million as part of his contract severance pay.
Story declined to comment to the newspaper for this story.
Grady almost closed its doors last year after decades of financial problems.
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