On February 22, 2019, approximately 9 Nurse Practitioners, Certified Nurse Midwives, and one Physician’s Assistant were handed letters of termination by Dr. Yasser Zeid of Longview, Texas.  He terminated all of their contracts and gave them one week to sign his NEW contract if they wanted to continue working for him.  For a variety of reasons, primarily pertaining to the hostile work environment and terrible leadership in the practice, 7 did not sign new contracts.  These 7 women (3 Certified Nurse Midwives and 4 Nurse Practitioners) found jobs elsewhere in the community, believing they were free to work anywhere in their community based on the fact that their contracts were all terminated without cause, and the fact that the place they went to work did not fall into the list of 4 places the noncompete (in the original contract that had been terminated) listed.

Outraged that the 7 would dare leave his employment, Dr. Yasser Zeid filed a lawsuit against the 7 women and Special Health Resources for Texas for “in excess of $1M”.  He also filed a temporary restraining order against the 7 women requesting that they all be prevented from providing Women’s Health services in their community until the case goes to trial in May, 2020.  That temporary restraining order was granted and has now become an injunction, meaning none of these 7 professionals can provide Women’s Health Services to the women they have cared for in their community (some for over 30 years). The basis of this lawsuit is fear of competition, and it affects over 900 women in our community.  This severely affects their right to chose their provider, and it affects the right of the 7 Nurse Practitioners/Certified Nurse Midwives to work and provide a living for the families in the profession they have spent most of their lives training for.