BOSTON — The Boston Ophthalmologists Association is suing a Boston-based physician who published a book in 2011 that described him as an “informal phthalmological specialist” and criticized his treatment of newborn babies.
In a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court, the OTA, the largest medical association in the country, said that in 2012, the doctor published a “specialty guide” for the care of newborns and pediatricians, which contained an email from the organization’s executive director, Roberta Miller, that included the email address for the doctor’s wife, who is also a doctor.
The OTA says the email was sent on Feb. 17, 2013, about a month before Miller had the doctor on her phone to discuss her husband’s care of babies.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, claims that Miller “knowingly shared confidential information with an unauthorized third party” about her husband, who was then a doctor at St. Luke’s Hospital in Boston, and about their relationship.
Miller’s lawyer, David Tovar, said in a statement that he is “saddened and horrified” by the lawsuit and the Ota’s allegations.
He said Miller’s husband, Michael Miller, was the author of the book and was unaware that his wife was sharing confidential information about him with an outside party.