COEUR d'ALENE — A local gastroenterologist is suing Kootenai Health over the loss of his privileges.

The lawsuit filed in First District Court by Dr. Stanley Toelle alleges breach of contract and violation of due process by the hospital.

The suit also names the Kootenai Hospital District, Kootenai Health Clinic LLC, Chief Medical Officer Walter Fairfax, Chief of Staff Taylor Reichel and Executive Vice President of Human Relations Daniel Klocko as defendants.

"Dr. Toelle did not voluntarily relinquish or give up his medical privileges," the complaint states. "Rather, defendants summarily revoked and stripped Dr. Toelle's privileges from him preventing him from practicing medicine in defendants' hospital and facilities."

The suit claims Toelle did not receive a hearing or any other chance to be heard before his privileges were revoked, nor was he advised why his privileges were being relinquished.

The complaint states that other medical staff subject to the same bylaws and credentialing policy who had been arrested or convicted of misdemeanor or felony crimes did not have their privileges revoked.

"Dr. Toelle also did not receive a chance to appeal the determination that his privileges were automatically relinquished," the suit states.

Toelle, who has practiced medicine for more than 30 years, was indicted on Jan. 20, 2016, in U.S. District Court on charges of conspiracy to launder money. The basis for the charges was that Toelle's then wife, Loren, was involved in a drug operation and money laundering associated with it.

However, Toelle was not charged with any crime involving the drug ring.

He admitted to two counts of misdemeanor tax fraud as part of a plea deal with the U.S. Attorney's Office and was sentenced to one month in prison.

As part of the agreement, he admitted the joint tax returns he filed with Loren were false because they did not report the income Loren was making from selling illegal narcotics in as many as six states.

"Stan Toelle pled guilty earlier this year to filing tax returns that were knowingly false and fraudulent," Kootenai Health spokesperson Kim Anderson said in a written statement. "Since that time, he has not submitted a request for reinstatement to the Kootenai Health medical staff. Because this is a pending legal matter, we cannot provide further comment."

Toelle claims he did not even know about Loren's drug organization, according to court documents.

Loren, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute drugs and launder money, was sentenced to 212 months in prison.

The suit claims Toelle complied with Kootenai's credentialing policy requiring staff who have been arrested or indicted to report the action to the chief of staff or chief medical officer immediately.

"(The defendants) indicated that if Dr. Toelle was only facing financial charges, then no action would need to be taken with respect to Dr. Toelle's medical staff privileges or employment," the complaint states.

The suit states Toelle therefore believed he would not be subject to any employment action based on the indictment, but was later notified his privileges were being revoked immediately.

Toelle in 2002 opened North Idaho Endoscopy, a practice acquired by Kootenai Health in 2013. He hasn't been on the medical staff of Kootenai Health since he was indicted.

The suit claims Toelle's reputation was harmed as a result of the loss of privileges and his ability to find new employment has been negatively impacted.

Toelle's medical license in Idaho is active, according to the Idaho Board of Medicine.

A phone message left with an attorney representing Toelle was not returned before deadline on Wednesday night.