When a surgeon working under contract at a Michigan hospital saw her privileges suspended, she sued, citing gender and racial discrimination. But a federal judge has dismissed her lawsuit, noting that only an institution's employees, not its independent contractors, can file discrimination claims.

LaCesha Brintley, MD, an African-American female surgeon, received medical staff privileges as a contract physician at St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Livonia, Mich., in 2006. Two years later, during an appendectomy on an otherwise healthy 22-year-old patient, she severed 2 major blood vessels, causing severe trauma and bleeding, according to court records.

Due to the severity of this incident and the discovery that Dr. Brintley's complication rates were higher than those of the hospital's other surgeons, she agreed to a temporary suspension followed by proctoring for 20 surgeries. But court documents describe her frequent disagreements with the proctors' recommendations and failure to request proctors on several occasions. As the proctorship period ended, her privileges were suspended.

In her discrimination lawsuit, Dr. Brintley argued that 2 white physicians, 1 male and 1 female, who underwent proctorship at the hospital were treated differently than she was.

In its 2012 decision, the court wrote that while Dr. Brintley had agreed to abide by the hospital's medical staff bylaws as a contract employee, nothing supports "a claim that the bylaws constitute a contract of employment with [the hospital]." The same is true, it noted, with the corrective action procedures she underwent. And "as a general rule, the federal employment discrimination statutes protect employees, but not independent contractors."

Dr. Brintley's attorney says she is appealing the decision to a higher federal court. The hospital's attorneys did not answer requests for comment.

Gail O. Guterl