The board that oversees the Wyoming Medical Center's lease of Natrona County's hospital assets acted within its authority and with good faith during the dispute between the nonprofit hospital and a group of neurosurgeons suing it for $10 million, according to federal court records.

"The Board of Trustees of Memorial Hospital of Natrona County at all relevant times acted in good faith and in accordance with the law," according to its answer filed in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne last week by its attorney Kate Fox of Davis & Cannon LLP in Cheyenne.

For these and other reasons, the five-member board wants U.S. District Court Judge Clarence Brimmer to dismiss the lawsuit filed on Jan. 28 by the three neurosurgeons of the Central Wyoming Neurosurgery: Robert A. Narotzky, Thomas A. Kopitnik and Debra Steele.

They claimed the WMC hospital violated its bylaws and procedures, engaged in practices that threatened patient safety, defamed them with allegations of Medicare fraud and theft of hospital equipment, and violated their due process of law guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, according to the complaint filed Jan. 28 by their attorneys Jack Speight, Robert McCue and Patrick Crank.

Some of the dispute centers on a peer review initiated after March 23, 2004, when Kopitnik performed two operations at staggered times, with a physician's assistant finishing one of the procedures, according to the complaint and answer.

Kopitnik claimed some members of the peer review committee were biased against him, according to the complaint.

They also claimed the board of trustees was negligent in its oversight of the WMC, which leases the county's hospital assets worth about $200 million. The rent, in effect, paid by the hospital, consists of protecting the value of the assets, and caring for indigent patients and prisoners at the county jail. The MHNC's board of trustees are appointed by the county commission with the consent of the hospital's own board of directors.

The Wyoming Medical Center filed its answer two weeks ago.

The board of trustees in its own answer filed on Tuesday denied most of the neurosurgeons' allegations.

It also attacked the legal right of the neurosurgeons to sue it.

The MHNC stated it is protected from any liability by the doctrine of qualified immunity, which protects government officials from being sued over their official acts so long as they did not violate someone's clearly established rights.

It also stated it is protected by the doctrine of sovereign immunity, which precludes someone from suing the government with its consent. "Founded on the ancient principle that 'the King can do no wrong,' it bars holding the government or its political subdivisions liable for the torts (injuries) of its officers or agents …," according to Black's Law Dictionary.

The Memorial Hospital board of trustees also stated the neurosurgeons didn't do what they could to minimize the damages they incurred, nor have they alleged any facts warranting punitive damages, according to the answer to the lawsuit.

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@trib.com.