JOHNSTON COUNTY -- Dr. Franklin Wefald, the Smithfield cardiologist, is suing his former employer, claiming Wake Heart and Vascular Associates wrongfully fired him in 2008.

Wefald also has an ongoing dispute with Johnston Health, which has tried to revoke the doctor's privileges to practice at Johnston Medical Center in Smithfield.

The doctor's complaint against Wake Heart asks for millions of dollars in damages and the restoration of Wefald's private shares of the practice. The complaint claims Wake Heart wrongfully fired Wefald because his fellow doctors felt threatened by him.

The complaint contends that Wake Heart knew Wefald was planning to leave and form his own practice, Millennia Cardiovascular. To do so, he would have had to give a nine-month notice to Wake Heart.

The complaint says that during the transition period, Wake Heart's leadership knew "it stood to lose hundreds of patients to Dr. Wefald" while still paying him. Instead, the complaint alleges, Wake Heart fired Wefald in May 2008 with no forewarning and no cause listed in the termination letter. Because Wake Heart said the firing was "for cause," the practice avoided paying Wefald severance, his complaint says.

At the time of his firing, Wefald was "the single most profitable physician at Wake Heart," the complaint adds.

The complaint claims that Wake Heart then launched a campaign to destroy Wefald's new practice. The practice claims that it "had received a substantial number of complaints" against the doctor. Among them was a claim that Wefald had showed off photos of a patient's penile implant. According to Wefald's complaint, an investigation by Johnston Health found no evidence of the photo.

Wefald also contends that a Wake Heart employee made up a complaint against him and made it appear a patient had made the complaint. Wefald claims the patient "did not have the mental faculties" to have written the complaint.

Finally, Wefald claims that Wake Heart stripped him of shares worth 5.26 percent of the practice, offering only a check for $100. Robert Merritt, an attorney for Wake Heart, said the practice would contest the suit. "We have no comment at this stage of the proceedings other than to say that Wake Heart and its doctors strongly disagree with the allegations and intend to vigorously defend this lawsuit," Merritt said.