Medical Staff of St. Mary etc. v. St. Mary Medical Center CA2/7

INTRODUCTION

“Hospitals in this state have a dual structure, consisting of an administrative governing body, which oversees the operations of the hospital, and a medical staff, which provides medical services and is generally responsible for ensuring that its members provide adequate medical care to patients at the hospital.” (El-Attar v. Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (2013) 56 Cal.4th 976, 983.) This appeal arises from a dispute between these two structural elements of St. Mary Medical Center (the Hospital) and the scope of each element’s respective authority. After new leadership at the Hospital declined to make changes to the peer review process and solicited proposals for new exclusive contracts for several departments, the Hospital’s medical staff (the Medical Staff) filed a petition for writ of mandate to prevent the Hospital from allegedly violating the independence and bylaws of the Medical Staff. The trial court ruled the Medical Staff failed to exhaust its administrative remedies for certain aspects of the dispute and failed to identify a ministerial duty to support the relief sought. The Medical Staff does not effectively challenge the trial court’s finding it…