NATCHEZ — A jury ruled a former Natchez physician must pay nearly $600,000 to Natchez Regional Medical Center Thursday for breaking his employment contract.

Dr. Richard Brownstein, a gastroenterologist recruited to Natchez by NRMC in July 2004, left town in November 2005, breaking a three-year contract.

NRMC officials sued for damages the hospital incurred as a result of Brownstein’s departure.

Brownstein, who came to Natchez from Key West, Fla., left because of a lack of patients, his defense attorney argued.

After a day and a half trial and only an hour and a half of deliberation, the jury awarded the hospital the full damages it requested — $598,018.

In his closing arguments, Natchez Regional’s attorney Kenneth Rector said the hospital paid Brownstein for, among other things, moving costs and supplemented income losses for the first three years.

Hospitals often enter into contracts with doctors to recruit new talent to rural areas, hospital board attorney Walter Brown said.

“Natchez needed Dr. Brownstein and did everything we could to get him here and get him to stay,” Rector said.

But Brownstein breached the contract by leaving early and not working fulltime, Rector told the jury.

In his closing arguments, defense attorney Bradley Hayes said Natchez Regional was the one who breached contract by not paying his client the money they promised they would give him if he did not earn a certain amount.

“This is enough money to ruin someone’s life,” Hayes said. “They not only ruined two years of his life. Now, they want not just money, but they want blood. He was set up for failure.”

Hayes argued that the hospital had “a vendetta” against his client and that Brownstein could not pay his employees while practicing in Natchez.

Rector said none of what Hayes said was addressed in testimony.

“We gave the guy $600,000, and then we set him up for failure?” Rector asked the jury.

The hospital asked for and, in a 10-2 verdict, the jury granted the following:

-$40,000 relocation bonus.

-$17,778 consulting service fees.

-$24,713 for relocation and moving expenses.

-$16,640 liability insurance loan.

-$29,534 liability insurance increase.

-$469,353 income guarantee.

Rector said he and the hospital administrators were pleased with the outcome of the trial.

“We’re thrilled,” Rector said. “It’s always good when a jury agrees with what you’ve been working on for months. We obviously had a strong case and position.”

Hayes said the jury’s decision was “unbelievable.”

“Of course, you can never tell which way a jury’s going to go,” Hayes said. “We tried to put on the best case we could, but it clearly did not resonate with the jury as well as we thought it had.”

Brownstein was considering filing personal bankruptcy in the next few days, which would mean the hospital wouldn’t get any money, Hayes said.

Attorney Brown said he hoped that wasn’t the case but that even if Brownstein filed for bankruptcy, the case was not all for naught.

“The hospital has to see that the contracts it enters into are enforced,” Brown said. “We have a liability to the taxpayers to pursue those who violate those contracts. It was the right thing to do.”