Mileikowsky v. West Hills Hosp. and Med. Ctr. (Summary)

MEDICAL STAFF HEARINGS

Mileikowsky v. West Hills Hosp. and Med. Ctr., No. S156986 (Cal. Apr. 6, 2009)

The Supreme Court of California held that a hearing officer in a medical staff hearing lacked the authority, pursuant to California law and the medical staff bylaws, to dismiss a physician’s case in response to the physician’s noncompliance with procedural requirements (in this case, the production of documents during "discovery").

Following the denial of his obstetrical privileges at a hospital, a physician requested a hearing challenging the review committee’s recommendation. Due to the physician’s recalcitrance and refusal to produce documents requested by the hospital, the hearing officer issued an order dismissing the hearing. The hearing officer interpreted the California peer review statute to confer upon him the power to impose sanctions beyond granting or denying continuances by virtue of the hearing officer’s “power to impose safeguards to protect the peer review process.”

The court held that the hearing officer’s dismissal of the proceedings prevented the reviewing panel from considering the evidence and eliminated the reviewing panel’s role in the decision-making process. The court also noted that the provision for imposing safeguards “clearly seems directed to the situation in which the material a physician requests to inspect or copy includes confidential information related to physicians who are not parties to the proceedings.”