The Oklahoma Supreme Court has decided  the Oklahoma Peer Review statute (Professional Review Bodies – Protection From Liability Act) does not provide blanket immunity to peer review bodies in Oklahoma. The statute is only a defense to liability if the peer review body meets all of the requirements of the Act. In Smith v. Deaconess Hospital…

Dr. John C. Perry and his practice, Teddy Bear Obstetrics & Gynecology, P.S., sued Kadlec Medical Center (which you may recall is the hospital that obtained a negligent credentialing judgment against Lakeview Medical Center in Louisiana for failing to provide credentialing information) and several members of the medical staff alleging that his credentials at Kadlec…

Curtsinger v. HCA, Inc.

Dr. Curtsinger’s case illustrates one of the traps for the unwary in medical staff privileging cases. Dr. Curtsinger was summarily suspended, but was reinstated upon agreeing to a leave of absence to fulfill certain conditions for reinstatement. Upon completion of those conditions, Dr. Curtsinger requested return from his leave of absence; the hospital…

My last MedLaw Blog post described four rules for making the peer review process fair. Here are four rules physicians should follow to protect themselves regardless of the peer review process.

1.         Recognize peer review when it is happening to you. There is no doubt that peer review is occurring when you get a letter proposing…

Sham peer review is created and perpetuated by secrecy. Charles Mackay wrote in “Eternal Justice”:

“But the sunshine aye shall light the sky,

As round and round we run;

And the truth shall ever come uppermost,

And justice shall be done.”

Physicians do not need voluminous due process protections in medical staff bylaws in order to…

The United States District Court for the District of Iowa held that Mercy Medical Center-Sioux City was not immune from liability under the Federal Health Care Quality Improvement Act. The Court entered summary judgment to the estate of Dr. Horst G. Blume on the basis of Mercy’s breach of contract and awarded damages to Dr. Blume…

A California court recently concluded that exhaustion of administrative remedies was not required as a condition precedent to reinstatement of a physician. The summary description of this holding is somewhat misleading, because it is commonly accepted that physicians must exhaust their administrative remedies, i.e., the medical staff peer review hearing process, before pursuing either civil or…