News
PLASTIC
SURGEON DR. STEVEN M. HOEFFLIN IS CLEARED AND VINDICATED OF ALL
LEGAL CLAIMS AGAINST HIM
Former
employees and physicians who made accusations agree to pay
settlements and offer apologies to world famous doctor.
After
several years of litigation involving what Dr. Steven M. Hoefflin,
M.D., FACS has always contended were baseless claims, Dr. Hoefflin
has won apologies and agreements to make substantial monetary
payments from the former employees and physicians who had made false
public allegations against him and his patients.
These false
allegations first were made public in 1996, after four ex-employees
filed a lawsuit claiming sexual harassment.
At that time, their attorneys made a statement that the
lawsuit had been mistakenly filed and issued a letter of apology to
Dr. Hoefflin stating that “the allegations contained in the
mistakenly filed complaint were without sufficient factual or legal
basis.” The lawsuit was
dismissed.
Thereafter,
in 1997, Dr. James Hurvitz, a disgruntled former associate of Dr.
Hoefflin, obtained documents containing the former employees’ false
claims made in 1996, and forwarded those documents to The
Washington Post and The Medical Board of California.
This generated worldwide attention involving Dr. Hoefflin
fueled by repeated media appearances by Dr. Hurvitz and Dr. Wallace
Goodstein. As a result,
Dr. Hoefflin immediately filed legal action against the doctors and
the former employees and their attorneys, seeking damages for
defamation due to the false statement and other alleged wrongful
acts.
Dr.
Hoefflin successfully prosecuted all actions, and he has been
vindicated of all false claims:
-
In May 1999, after a complete investigation, The Medical
Board of California, as expected, found no grounds to
substantiate any of the claims and brought no disciplinary action
against Dr. Hoefflin.
-
In April of 2000, Dr. Hoefflin was paid a substantial sum of money to
settle his claims resulting from Dr. Hurvitz’ release of scurrilous
and untrue information to The Washington Post.
-
In August 2001, the four former employees who originally made the false
allegations issued apology letters to Dr. Hoefflin and agreed to pay
a large amount of money to Dr. Hoefflin in settlement of his claims
against them.
-
In January 2002, Dr. Wallace Goodstein, the final remaining defendant in
the litigation brought by Dr. Hoefflin, also issued an apology
letter to Dr. Hoefflin and his patients and agreed to pay Dr.
Hoefflin an undisclosed sum of money.
Dr.
Hoefflin has expressed his gratitude for the support of his family,
patients, colleagues and friends from around the world throughout
this ordeal. Dr.
Hoefflin has stated that he will continue to uphold the highest
standards of care and safety for his patients while vigorously
protecting their right of privacy and confidentiality.