Doctor alleges mistreatment of injured Fort Worth police officers in lawsuit against city
A doctor and a chiropractor are suing the city of Fort Worth for barring them from treating city employees in what they say is a retaliatory move after they backed injured Fort Worth police officers in workers’ compensation disputes.
The lawsuit was filed in Tarrant County District Court on April 22 by Steven Simmons, a pain management physician, and chiropractor Jon Schweitzer, both of whom practice at Southwest Sports and Spine Center, which has four locations: two in Fort Worth, one in Hurst and one in Cleburne.
In their suit, Simmons and Schweitzer allege the Fort Worth Police Department had them removed from the city’s BlackStone health care network as punishment for advocating on behalf of officers hurt in the line of duty. The plaintiffs are seeking a permanent injunction that would allow them to remain part of the BlackStone network.
On April 23, District Judge Robert Brotherton signed a temporary restraining order that will keep Simmons and Schweitzer on the network for the time being. The order also restricts further communication from the city regarding their removal. However, as of April 25, neither Simmons nor Schweitzer show up in provider searches on BlackStone’s website.
Since joining BlackStone in 2016, Simmons and Schweitzer have treated dozens upon dozens of Fort Worth officers. But they received a letter in May 2024 signed by Robert Alldredge, executive assistant police chief, informing them that they were being placed on probation following an assessment of the city’s approved health care providers.
“During the assessment, some activities were revealed about Southwest Sports and Spine’s business practice with the City of Fort Worth’s Workers Compensation program that caused the Police Department some concern, including not returning police officers to work timely,” the letter stated. “These activities were shared with the Risk Management Division of the City’s Human Resources Department, which manages the Blackstone network, and also the Police Officers Association (POA).”
On Jan. 28, the doctors received an unsigned letter from BlackStone saying their agreement to provide services to Fort Worth employees would be terminated effective April 28. That letter did not specify a reason for the termination, only that their agreement with the city could be terminated without cause by either party with 90 days’ written notice.
Simmons and Schweitzer appealed that decision, but their appeal was denied. According to an affidavit signed by Simmons, on Jan. 30, while the appeal was still pending, the city of Fort Worth sent letters to patients of Simmons and Schweitzer that read, “Please be advised effective January 28, 2025, Southwest Sports and Spine, Jon Schweitzer, DC and Steve Simmons, DO, will no longer be available via the BlackStone physician panel.”
In the affidavit, Simmons pointed out that he and Schweitzer had been removed from BlackStone’s provider directory, despite their termination not taking effect until April 28.
When reached for comment, a Fort Worth spokesperson provided the following statement:
“The City of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Police Department are aware of the lawsuit and take these allegations seriously. As this is an active legal matter, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
The Star-Telegram also contacted the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, but did not receive a response.
Allegations of injury mismanagement
Simmons and Schweitzer say city officials, including Alldredge, want to exclude them as punishment for supporting officers who were purportedly pressured by the Fort Worth Police Department to return to work too soon from injuries or accept lesser forms of treatment for serious injuries.
Simmons and Schweitzer’s attorney, Michael Francis, with the Southlake-based Francis Injury law firm, said there had been many cases in which his clients advised surgery for police officers injured in the line of duty, only to have city of Fort Worth officials push back and recommend physical therapy instead.
This typically happened on the recommendation of a physician contracted by the city to review workers compensation claims. In some cases, Francis said, the reviewing physician was based out of town or out of state — as far away as New York in one case — and therefore unable to evaluate the patient in question before disputing the treatment plan laid out by Simmons or Schweitzer.
In the lawsuit filing, Francis characterized these reviewing physicians as “hired guns” used by the city of Fort Worth “for the sole and express purpose of denying Fort Worth first responders critical and necessary medical care.”
The lawsuit cites 58 cases in which the city contested an employee’s treatment plan on the advice of a reviewing physician. According to the filing, all but three of those disputes were settled in the employee’s favor with help from Simmons or Schweitzer. That’s why, the doctors believe, they are being targeted.
Termination would have significant impact on practice and patients
In his affidavit, Simmons said 65% of Southwest Sports and Spine Center’s physical therapy billings came from city of Fort Worth employees.
“If I am wrongfully terminated from the BlackStone Network,” Simmons said in the affidavit, “it would cause an extreme economic hardship that would threaten the financial stability of me, Southwest Sports and Spine and other doctors at my office involved in the treatment of injured Fort Worth employees.”
But attorney Michael Francis said this lawsuit goes beyond financial damages.
“The doctors with Southwest Sports and Spine, they’ve spent a lot of time developing a pretty deep relationship with the police department and the members of the department they treat,” said Francis. “I’s important from a business standpoint, but they also view it as a circumstance that, if they don’t make this fight and they don’t do the best they can to remain on the network, they look at it as the officers may be abandoned, where they really have no one to see and nowhere to go who’s going to be actively invested in their recovery and their treatment.”
A former officer speaks out
Diane Sims, a retired Fort Worth police sergeant who still receives treatment at Southwest Sports and Spine Center, accused the Fort Worth Police Department of trying to cut costs by denying officers’ medical care. She believes that Simmons and Schweitzer are indeed being punished for their support of police officers, and she said active officers feel the same but are afraid to speak out from fear of retaliation.
Sims said she wasn’t a bitter ex-employee with an ax to grind, and that she enjoyed her 30-plus-year career as a police officer. Still, she is left with debilitating pain from injuries sustained on the job, and Simmons and Schweitzer are the only ones who have been able to provide relief.
“If I wake up and can’t move, I can call up Southwest Sports and Spine,” said Sims.
According to Sims, Simmons and Schweitzer were treating approximately 150 active and former Fort Worth police officers when they received the termination letter from BlackStone. Now, Sims worries they’ll have trouble finding the same level of care.
Additionally, Sims contends that the police department, not Southwest Sports and Spine Center, is responsible for delays in getting officers back to work following an injury. She said the workers compensation disputes initiated by the department often become prolonged battles that can last months or even years, during which time the officer at the center of the dispute is drawing a paycheck while sitting at home.
Sims said this not only costs the city and its taxpayers, but it results in the police department being chronically understaffed, which leads to officer burnout. short 200 officers
“Chief Alldredge goes to the city council begging for bodies, begging for officers,” said Sims. “But all the while you have officers at home or officers on light duty. Instead of begging for new officers, why don’t you fix the ones who are sitting at home hurt? It’s like they’ve been forgotten.”