Mileikowsky v. Tenet Healthsystem

Peer Review

Mileikowsky v. Tenet Healthsystem, No. B159733 (Cal. Ct. App. Apr. 6, 2005)

A
physician who failed to file his application for reappointment in a timely
manner was determined by the hospital to have voluntarily resigned his medical
staff appointment. The physician alleged that he had not received notice
of the approaching expiration of his appointment, nor was he furnished
with the materials needed to obtain reappointment. After the hospital refused
the physician’s reappointment application, the physician sued, claiming
that the hospital’s actions denied him the due process rights set forth in
the hospital’s medical staff bylaws. The trial court issued a preliminary injunction
precluding the hospital from interfering with the physician’s exercise
of his clinical privileges at the hospital. Once discovery began, the hospital
filed various motions to compel the production of evidence and eventually
the court granted monetary and terminating sanctions due to the physician’s
failure to cooperate. The physician appealed the trial court’s decision
to issue these sanctions. The trial court’s imposition of the sanctions was
upheld by the court of appeals, which found that the physician’s failure
to follow a stipulation signed by counsel for both parties was equivalent
to disobeying a court order.