AMA Dismisses CEO Who Sued Group for $5M

Two weeks after American Medical Association CEO and Executive Vice President E. Ratcliffe Anderson sued the organization for $5 million, the AMA has terminated Anderson's contract, the Kansas City Star reports. Anderson had sued the AMA on June 18, alleging that the group prevented him from firing the association's top legal officer, who agreed to sell AMA-owned property for $13.5 million less than its market value. The AMA termed the lawsuit "frivolous" and rejected Anderson's settlement demands. According to the group, it fired Anderson "pursuant to the terms of his employment agreement" (Margolies, Kansas City Star, 6/29). The AMA hired Anderson in 1998, after the "shake-up" resulting from its failed endorsement deal with Sunbeam Corp. After the deal failed, five AMA staff members were fired, including the executive vice president (AP/Wall Street Journal, 7/2). Before going to the AMA, Anderson had run the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and the schools' primary teaching hospital, the Truman Medical Center, but the school "ousted him" nearly one year after hiring him. The Kansas City Star reports that "it was widely believed that Anderson's management style ruffled too many feathers" at the medical school (Kansas City Star, 6/29).