Lo v. Provena Covenant Medical Center

Bylaws as a Contract

Lo v. Provena Covenant Med. Ctr., No. 4-04-0362 (Ill. App. Ct. March 28, 2005)

A
hospital summarily suspended a physician’s clinical privileges to perform open
heart surgery. The physician challenged the hospital’s action and an Illinois
trail court eventually dismissed the physician’s lawsuit. The physician appealed
the trial court’s decision, claiming that the hospital was in breach of the
contractual relationship that arose as a result of the medical staff bylaws.
The hospital claimed that no such contract existed. However, the Illinois Appellate
Court began its analysis by noting that the medical staff is a voluntary association
that "is not a legal entity separate from
the persons who compose it." The court then found that, although the
bylaws would normally only constitute a contract between the medical staff
and its members, the hospital became a party to the contract when it approved
the bylaws. However, the court went on to find that an Illinois law that
granted immunity to a hospital from suits that arose as a result of an internal
quality control process applied to this hospital. As such, the hospital and
its CEO were immune from damages resulting from the CEO’s alleged breach
of the bylaws in summarily suspending the physician because the CEO acted
to advance quality control and his conduct was not "willful or wanton," as
that term was defined in the statute. Finally, the court ruled that the physician’s
request for an injunction ordering the hospital to lift the restrictions
on certain of his privileges was moot because those privileges had not been
renewed when the physician applied for reappointment.