Unnamed Physician v. Board of Trustees of Saint Agnes Medical Center

Appellant is an unnamed physician licensed to practice medicine in California and has a board certified specialty. He has been a member of the medical staff at Saint Agnes Medical Center, a nonprofit public benefit corporation since 1992, and has full privileges at the hospital.

In 2000, based on a report initiated by a reappointment survey program, which indicated appellant’s infection rate as being significantly higher than that of other physicians with his specialty, several of appellant’s charts were flagged for peer review. Thereafter, appellant’s medical practices were reviewed by both an internal and external reviewer. The external reviewer, also with the same specialty, had no connection to appellant or respondents. Both reviews reported problems with appellant’s medical practices.

The external reviewer, Dr. Raymond Berg, reported that each of the charts he reviewed “demonstrated some type of situation which might be deemed a quality of care issue. Foremost among these is an apparent excessive number of postoperative infections.” Dr. Berg stated he would eliminate three cases from the fifteen he had considered as having a quality of care issue which could be…