The Bonati Spine Institute filed a nine-count, $500 million complaint in federal court against the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), alleging civil rights abuses, state officials’ conspiracy, slander, and libel.
The case was launched after the state agency closed Dr. Alfred Bonati’s ambulatory surgery center in March 2023 based on allegedly false accusations and interference with continuing commercial connections in an attempt to harm the practice’s reputation, the complaint claims.
According to the complaint, AHCA, the state agency responsible for regulating healthcare facility licenses, issued an Emergency Suspension Order on March 15, 2023, and immediately suspended the license of the Medical Development Corporation of Pasco County, the ambulatory surgery center affiliated with The Bonati Spine Institute, which Dr. Alfred Bonati owns, based on false allegations of a certified surgical technologist performing an “entire spine surgery.”
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“These allegations were not only knowingly false, but done in a deliberate effort to damage our facility and the reputation of our owner, Dr. Bonati,” said Kimberly Bonati, senior vice president of media and communications for The Bonati Spine Institute. “A major piece of our success over the last 40 years has been the development of our unique approach to anesthesia where our patients remain awake and communicating with their surgeon throughout their surgical procedure. Because of this unique interaction between patient and surgeon, it would be impossible for anyone other than the patient’s surgeon to perform surgery in our facility.”
AHCA Registered Nurse Specialists Tanya Ferrari, Rachel Beane, and Terry Moriarty, who are also named in the complaint, spearheaded the investigation of the Medical Development Corporation of Pasco County.
The suspension of Medical Development Corporation’s license resulted in the closure of The Bonati Institute’s ambulatory surgery center, and AHCA officials leaked the Emergency Suspension Order to the media, resulting in negative publicity against Dr. Bonati individually, despite the fact that he was not specifically named in the Emergency Suspension Order, according to the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, shortly after the ambulatory surgery center was wrongfully shut down, surgeons and team members from The Bonati Spine Institute were credentialed at another ambulatory surgery center in Tampa, allowing them to continue treating patients who were still undergoing treatment.
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According to the lawsuit, Ferrai and other AHCA personnel returned to the Tampa ambulatory surgery center many days later, looking for Dr. Bonati despite the fact that they had no regulatory authority over Dr. Bonati’s license.
When they couldn’t find him, Ferrai and AHCA agents allegedly harassed personnel at an undisclosed Tampa surgery center, prompting them to terminate relations with surgeons from The Bonati Spine Institute to avoid future harassment from the state, according to the complaint.
“I cannot sit back and allow this type of targeted abuse, harassment, and false allegations against myself, my team, or our patients to stand,” said Dr. Bonati. “AHCA must be held to account for its actions, and those who were responsible for this gross devastation must face justice. It is the responsibility of all of us to hold our government accountable against malicious overreach, and we will pursue this case to the fullest extent of the law.”
According to public records, AHCA agreed to a settlement permitting the Medical Development Corporation of Pasco County to resume operations on July 7, 2023, without any public comment on the matter.
The Bonati Spine Institute is seeking $500 million in damages from the state, claiming that it has “suffered substantial damage in the form of lost revenue and reputational harm.”
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