Broward Health general counsel Lynn Barrett as North Broward Hospital District holds a special board meeting on Feb. 10, 2016, to discuss pending investigations.

The general counsel at a South Florida public hospital system was fired Wednesday following public accusations that she failed to sign contracts on time and funneled millions of dollars to outside law firms, according to a Sun Sentinel account.

The top lawyer, Lynn Barrett, was ousted by a 4-2 vote of the board of the North Broward Hospital District in Fort Lauderdale, which markets itself under the brand name Broward Health. The vote came after years of controversy, including a 2015 agreement by the five-hospital district to pay $69.5 million to settle False Claims Act allegations involving improper relationships with referring doctors, the 2016 suicide of its then-CEO and criminal and civil litigation against several current and former hospital system officials, including Barrett, over alleged state Sunshine Law violations.

Barrett could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. According to the Sun Sentinel, she attended but did not speak during Wednesday's board meeting. In an interview with the paper after the vote, she denied any wrongdoing.

“I've always tried to do the right thing,” she reportedly said. “I really am blessed to have worked at the district.”

Barrett's lawyer, Bob Martinez of Colson Hicks Eidson, said in a statement that his client's termination was related to her enforcement of the 2015 agreement that Broward Health entered into with the U.S. Department of Justice before Barrett's arrival.

“Some members of the Board and prior management are unhappy that Ms. Barrett made the District comply with its legal requirements under the [agreement] and with the federal healthcare laws,” Martinez said. “Ms. Barrett refused to compromise her principles, integrity, or commitment to comply with the federal laws. So, the Board decided to fire her.”

Martinez continued: “I don't think the [Justice Department] and the [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General] will look favorably on the Board's termination of Ms. Barrett's employment as general counsel, or its timing, particularly as it comes shortly after Ms. Barrett once again raised questions and objections to what she believed to be some transactions contemplated by the Board that appear contrary to the District's legal obligations.”

Doctors at the hearing told the board that Barrett's alleged failure to sign contracts in a timely manner prevented the system from receiving necessary medical equipment and specialties, the Sun Sentinel said.

“Broward Health has seen a mass exodus of quality physicians from this system,” Dr. Louis Yogel, immediate past chief of staff at the Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, the system's largest hospital, is reported as saying, adding that a “legal firewall” is to blame for the issues. “Patient access to services is suffering due to delay in the contracting process.”

Barrett also was attacked, according to the Sun Sentinel, for initiating investigations into Broward Health executives and board members that did nothing except generate profits for law firms, including Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, Foley & Lardner and McGuireWoods.

“We have firms getting multiple millions, which gives them considerable weight, unfortunately,” the Sun Sentinel reported board chairman Andrew Klein, who led the push for Barrett's firing, as saying. “And some of those have been utilized against our own employees and our own board members. It's confusing to me how attorneys who are supposed to be serving us as their client are acting adverse to our own interests.”

Barrett became general counsel at the nation's 10th largest hospital system in July 2015. Before joining the embattled public hospital system, she was chief ethics and compliance officer at Jackson Health System in Miami, and worked in the law firms Jones Walker and Roetzel & Andress. Barrett, a member of the New York State Bar Association, graduated from New York University School of Law in 1991, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has been a member of The Florida Bar since 1996.

Barrett has been indicted on one count of solicitation and one count of conspiracy to violate open meetings law, a case that is pending. The second-degree misdemeanors are punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine, according to Broward County prosecutors.