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Show Cedar doctor resigns, cites personal reasons CEDAR CITY Citing personal reasons, Dr. Paul Christensen has terminated his contract with the Valley View Medical Center and announced his plans to move to Las Vegas. Christensen, who was the center of the most recent controversy between doctors and doctors and the hospital, insisted that his resignation had nothing to do with other doctors harassing him or not referring patients to him. Actually, Christensen listed several reasons for leaving the VVMC and the area. His major complaint is that the fee standards of Medicare in Utah are roughly one-third of those in Las Vegas and California. "I want the people in Cedar City to clearly understand that my leaving is, for the most part, for personal reasons," he said. The internal specialist plans on going into practice with his brother in Las Vegas. He had practiced with him for about four months previous to his being recruited to Cedar City. Two months ago, Dr. Christensen claimed that "established" physicians in Cedar City had been harassing him and not referring patients to him; however, he would not say that such was the reason for his leaving now. "Established physicians are not driving me out," Christensen said at the press conference Tuesday afternoon af-ternoon where his plans were announced. an-nounced. "Things have been going very well for the past several months." The Cedar City doctors are "a fine group of doctors," he said, and he will have fond memories of the people here. Dahl Gardner, VVMC administrator, adm-inistrator, added his thoughts to those of Christensen, saying that he is sad to see the doctor leave. He noted that the hospital has gained much in the six months Christensen has been here. "It's helped move the hospital forward." "I think we've had a supportive, positive relationship," he continued. "I think there's been good progress made." Gardner also added that recruitment for a new internist has already begun. However, the hospital hopes to attract someone with a subspeciality, making a profitable practice in Cedar City a bit more possible for the doctor. |