Oliver

Anthony D. Oliver, M.D. (petitioner or Dr. Oliver) appeals from a judgment denying his petition for a writ of mandate to compel the Board of Trustees of Eisenhower Medical Center (EMC) to set aside its order denying his application for membership to the Consulting Medical Staff of EMC and to reconsider his application.

Introduction

EMC is a private, nonprofit hospital in Coachella Valley. State licensing law vests final authority and responsibility for an acute care hospital such as EMC in the hospital’s governing body. (Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 22, § 70035.) Every hospital in California must have an “organized medical staff responsible to the governing body for the adequacy and quality of the medical care rendered to patients in the hospital.” (Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 22, •§ 70703, subd. (a).) The governing body is responsible for the appointment and reappointment of members to the hospital’s medical staff (Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 22, § 70701, subd. (a)(1)(B)) and for assuring that the medical staff establishes controls designed to insure the maintenance of high standards of professional and ethical practices at the hospital (Cal. Admin. Code, tit. 22, § 70701, subd.…