Nimeth reveals reason for departure in emotional Facebook video

MOUNT VERNON – Dr. Brent Nimeth, a local family doctor who has been out of practice for the last six weeks, revealed the reason for his termination on Tuesday morning in an emotional, five-minute video posted on his Facebook page.

“What happened to Nimeth? That’s the question everybody wants to know,” he said at the beginning of the video.

Nimeth exited his office in late May, leaving nothing more than a note authored by his former employer, the American Health Network. The note said he was no longer employed by the network and his patients would be transferred to nurse practitioners working in the office.

A week later, Nimeth’s attorney – Kim Rose, of Critchfield, Critchfield & Johnston, Ltd. – sent out a press release explaining Nimeth was in a contract dispute with American Health Network and that he “is looking forward to returning to the practice of medicine as soon as he can.”

American Health Network administration was not available for comment at the time this story was published.

In Tuesday’s Facebook video, Nimeth revealed he was dismissed from the American Health Network for “disruptive behavior.” He then proceeded to tell the full scope of his story, which he said began in July 2017.

Here is what Nimeth said:

“Our company was purchased by a very large, corporate entity, and my ability changed. Things were moving along fairly smoothly until about the fall of last year, when a very experienced and a very good employee ran into a situation and subsequently resigned. I was very saddened by this.

“Two months later, another very experienced employee also resigned over a similar issue. At this time, this increased our workload at the office tremendously. It became quite stressful, it was in the middle of flu season. We were on call all the time. Long hours.

“Then in early March of this year, another long-term employee was fired suddenly. It was horrible; we were short-staffed, scheduling was very difficult, things were really stressful. If that wasn’t bad enough, during this time my daughter was in an accident on the freeway where a semi hit her and totaled her car. If that semi had been four inches a little more to the right, my day would’ve turned out enormously worse.

“During this same period, there were several patients who we diagnosed with terminal illnesses. And this was very stressful, it was horrible. I hit a low point. And it was at this time that a very compassionate co-worker tried to console me, and we entered into a texting relationship that lasted two weeks.

“It became personal. But it was wrong and it was inappropriate, and this relationship ended.

“I told my wife about it; initially she was pissed, but she forgave me. I told my priest about it; initially, he was pissed, but he forgave me. I told Jesus about it; he said, ‘I love you. You’re forgiven.’ And I told my company about it, as you’re supposed to do if things like this arise, but they were not so forgiving.

“And on May 22, one day before my birthday, I was terminated for disruptive behavior – section 2.5, subsection E and G of the contract. The contract has a non-compete clause, which means that I cannot practice medicine within a 20-mile radius from my office for one year.

“I had to stop seeing nursing home patients immediately. I was barred from any interaction from patients. The corporation stated that the patients actually belong to the company.

“I can’t visit you in the hospital. I can’t even talk with you on the street. Twenty three years I’ve lived in this community, how am I supposed to do that? It’s very hard.

“You’re not just a patient, you’re people. And if you do what I do long enough, these people become friends.

“My staff had no direction, patients had no explanation – this must have been horrible. But I’m a rural family physician, I’m committed to my community. I want to help people. I want to make their lives a little bit easier. God gave me these skills and I’m going to continue to use them.

“I don’t know where I’m going to work yet but I do know this: I’m going to miss everybody. I already miss my staff. I miss folks that I’ve known for two decades. I miss my community. I miss my church. I miss Southside Diner. I miss running on the trail. This is very hard.

“I apologize to everybody for the hardships and the inconvenience that I’ve caused – literally hundreds of people. This is my fault and I hope you can forgive me.

“But if I can leave you with one thing, one thing to remember – I’ve said this to many folks over the years and you probably know what I’m going to say. Actually, three things. Avoid white flour, no refined sugar, and walk three times a week. You’ll be OK.

“I love you all, God bless you all. Please bless each other, and God bless our community. Thank you for the privilege of caring for you for the past 20 years.”