Opinion No. (2005)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General GREGORY L. GONOT Deputy Attorney General THE HONORABLE BILL MORROW, MEMBER OF THE STATE SENATE, has requested an opinion on the following question: May a hospital district provide unconditional indemnification to non-employee members of its medical staff involved in litigation arising out of peer review committee activities? CONCLUSION A hospital district may not provide unconditional indemnification to non — employee members of its medical staff involved in litigation arising out of peer review committee activities. ANALYSIS The question presented for resolution concerns a proposed agreement under which a hospital district would agree to provide unconditional indemnification 1 to non — employee members of its medical staff who are defendants in litigation as a result of their activities as members of a hospital peer review committee. Typically, such a lawsuit would involve a staff physician suing committee members for defamation or for intentional interference with the right to practice a profession. (See Joel v. Valley Surgical Center (1998) 68 Cal.App.4th 360 , 364 .) 2 We conclude that a hospital district may not enter into such an…