By Kaylee Olivas

Two University Hospitals pediatricians are without a job after being accused of sending unsolicited text messages to fellow UH healthcare professionals.

Dr. Valerie Fouts-Fowler and Dr. Lauren Beene have collectively worked at UH for 18 years.

"The physicians we work with are wonderful. I can't say enough about them. The staff, the nurses, respiratory therapists, everybody. We really, really like it there, and my goal is to help it become better," Fouts-Fowler said.

On June 19, the pair was placed on administrative leave, according to Fouts-Fowler. Five days later and they were both terminated from UH.

UH issued a statement: "UH recently learned that the personal data of more than 4,000 providers was improperly accessed. An investigation was launched following complaints from physicians about receiving unsolicited texts on their personal phones. The investigation determined some UH physicians improperly used a proprietary UH care coordination application. Once in the app, these providers accessed the personal data of thousands of their colleagues."

UH added: "The improper use of proprietary UH personnel data creates a risk to care coordination that we cannot tolerate. Physicians have now expressed concern about sharing personal information, which could jeopardize the seamless care coordination UH strives to provide."

Fouts-Fowler and Beene admit to sending texts to UH physicians but claim it was in an effort to unionize for an improved healthcare system.

"We were organizing our fellow physicians to form a union, which we felt would help the doctors regain a voice in the decisions that are made high up in healthcare, which is very important for people on the front line to be a part of those conversations and so everything that we were doing was for that purpose," Beene said.

Beene said she was able to access UH healthcare workers' cell phone numbers through a digital directory that is often used for personal use.

"People use it to plan baby showers or fundraisers when a colleague is sick. It's actually very helpful for those sorts of things, so it makes sense to look for phone numbers on this app, to reach out to our colleagues to say, 'Hey, would you be interested in coming together with us to form a union to try to strengthen our voice for our patients?' And that's what we did," Beene said.

Fouts-Fowler said they also didn't access data from 4,000 providers, but that it was closer to 2,000.

"Did anybody come forward and say, 'Hey, I really didn't appreciate the text that you sent, that's not what this is for?'" I asked Fouts-Fowler and Beene.

"If anybody told me that they didn't want me to text them, I respected that, but there were no complaints that we were aware of," Beene said.

Beene said the unionizing of UH providers was also not new — that they had been working on this for the last year as part of a nationwide effort.

"This is a bigger problem in the country at the moment where the front line providers, which include physicians, nurses have been removed from the equation when it comes to having input in healthcare in general, how decisions are made, and being able to speak up freely without retaliation when we see things that put our patients' health at risk," Beene said.

Beene said there is also a lack of corporate support that they want to fight.

"There's unchecked powers," she said. "We really need a big overhaul and we need to reexamine how things are done."

Beene said that she and Fouts-Fowler were not asked to unionize their co-workers on behalf of any local or national union.

"Our job is to be the quarterback for our kids. We take care of babies, children, teenagers, and they trust us to be able to help them get the care that they need, and we're having trouble with that," Beene said. "We felt that by connecting with our colleagues, we would be able to figure out ways around the problems that we are facing."

Being fired for the text messages is a form of retaliation and a scare tactic from UH's corporate level, according to Fouts-Fowler and Beene.

"They're essentially silencing us. I think silencing doctors is the same as silencing patients, so I feel very strongly that we have to stand up for what's right," Fouts-Fowler said.

UH argues, though, that this situation has nothing to do with organizing or retaliation.

"The actions of these individuals were not related to care coordination," UH said in a statement. "We apologize to those providers whose personal data was improperly accessed, and to those who have been subjected to unsolicited text messages. The privacy of our patients and our providers is a priority."

At least 5,000 people have signed a petition demanding that the two doctors be reinstated.

More than 30 Ohio Representatives have also signed a letter to UH CEO Cliff Megerian calling for a prompt review.

Rachel Williamson, who has taken her 20-year-old son and two grandsons to Fouts-Fowler for years, is also demanding reinstatement.

"She (Fouts-Fowler) cares for the care of her patients. She's very caring for them. She's more than just a doctor. She's become family to us," Williamson said. "She takes her work with her. She's very caring and she's very passionate about what she does for her clients and for her patients."

Williamson said she and her family cried when they learned of Fouts-Fowler's termination last week.

"They need to reinstate both of these doctors because not only are they hurting the doctors, they're hurting a lot of clients. What UH is doing is very wrong," Williamson said.

Williamson said UH didn't provide her family with notice that Fouts-Fowler was no longer part of its healthcare system.

She said she called one day to set up an appointment and was told, "Dr. Fowler is no longer at this practice."

Until Fouts-Fowler is either employed with UH again or at a different practice, Williamson said her son and two grandsons are without a primary care pediatrician.

"Wherever she goes, we go," Williamson said.

Fouts-Fowler and Beene said if UH were to offer them their jobs back, they would both immediately say yes.

"We want to work at University Hospitals, Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, and we want to help make it better in any way that we can," Beene said.

Neither physician is currently looking for another job as they are hopeful UH will reconsider its decision.

If they are not offered reinstatement, there may be legal action that follows, according to Fouts-Fowler.

"We've been advised on kind of next steps with that. I hope it doesn't come to that," she said.

There's a petition circulating to reinstate Fouts-Fowler and Beene.

Beene said no matter where someone lives, they're able to sign the petition.

"I'm feeling excited about the changes that we can make when we come together, and while this is definitely a stressful situation for us, we're ready to turn this into something positive for all of us," Beene said.

There will be a picket in support of the two doctors on July 11 from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at the UH MSC building in Shaker.