In March 2014, VUMC was sued by the federal government in a whistle-blower case for a decade-long
Medicare fraud scheme. The university admitted one of its scientists fraudulently falsified six years of biomedical research in high-profile journals. In May 2015, a federal court ruled Vanderbilt University Medical Center was in violation of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act for laying off 200 employees without adequate notice and will have to pay out $400,000 pending an appeal.
RaDonda Vaught homicide case On March 25, 2022, a jury convicted former Vanderbilt University Medical Center nurse RaDonda Vaught of criminally negligent homicide and impaired adult abuse after she mistakenly administered the wrong medication that killed a patient in 2017. On May 13, 2022, Judge Jennifer Smith ruled that Vaught would not have to spend time in prison, sentencing her instead to three years probation.
Transgender clinic VUMC opened a
transgender clinic in 2018. He said on Twitter that VUMC considered gender-affirming care a "money-maker", that it threatened "consequences" for medical staff who declined to provide care, and that it tried to "enforce compliance" from hesitant parents of transgender youth. Walsh tweeted about meeting with Tennessee lawmakers on a bill to shut down the clinic. In response, VUMC said that Walsh had "misrepresent[ed] facts about the care the Medical Center provides to transgender patients" and said that "We have been and will continue to be committed to providing family-centered care to all adolescents in compliance with state law and in line with professional practice standards and guidance established by medical specialty societies". The VUMC also removed the webpage for its transgender clinic, and its clinic moved from in-person to
telehealth. Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives
Cameron Sexton, a Republican, said that "Your biological sex at birth is your identity", and promised to pass legislation that would ban gender-affirming healthcare for minors. Republican
Governor of Tennessee Bill Lee requested an investigation into the hospital. Jace Wilder, Education Manager of the
Tennessee Equality Project, said that "They are using trans kids as political pawns. They're saying this is going to protect kids, but this is going to further perpetuate violence." In response, Tennessee House majority leader
William Lamberth, a Republican, said that "This is a win for the safety of our children, but we're committed to ensuring this never happens in Tennessee again". In June 2023, the Attorney General's office mandated that the VUMC turn over the medical records of all of its transgender patients. The VUMC complied. Some of the patients filed a lawsuit, citing privacy concerns and said that "the hospital waited months before telling patients their medical information was shared". == Rankings and awards ==