Mileikowsky v. West Hills Hosp. Med. Ctr.

HEARING PROCEDURES

Mileikowsky v. West Hills Hosp. Med. Ctr., No. B186238 (Cal. Ct. App. Aug. 21, 2007)

The California Court of Appeal for the Second District, Division 8 reversed a lower court’s decision and held that a hearing officer did not have the authority to terminate a peer review proceeding prior to commencement of the hearing based on the physician’s failure to provide information from a similar proceeding at another hospital.

The appeals court had previously ruled on this matter, but granted both parties’ petitions for a rehearing in order to fully consider the points raised in the petitions. The appeals court again held that the hearing officer did not have the authority to terminate the hearing. The appeals court found that the decision to terminate the hearing – with the effect of letting the final proposed action stand – is a decision on the merits, and that such decision is for the hearing panel, since California law denies the hearing officer the right to vote on the merits. In so ruling, the court disagreed with a case from another decision involving the same physician, Mileikowsky v. Tenet Healthsystem, in which the appeals court there ruled that a hearing officer could terminate a hearing based on a physician’s disruptive conduct.

The appeals court remanded the case to the lower court directing that the hospital and the medical staff set aside the action which terminated the hearing, and to conduct the hearing.