QUESTION:
We have an applicant who is refusing to provide additional information regarding a question that she answered on our application form about a pending malpractice action because she says that her lawyer told her it could jeopardize her position in the pending litigation.  The physician’s description of the pending case is unusual and does cause concern regarding the privileges she is requesting and we think the information being requested is relevant to her request for appointment at our hospital.  Can we still ask for the information?  Should we ask for a letter from her lawyer?  Should the application be held incomplete?

OUR ANSWER FROM HORTYSPRINGER ATTORNEY LEEANNE MITCHELL:
Yes! Credentialers have a duty to review all of the relevant qualifications of each applicant for Medical Staff appointment and clinical privileges and cannot allow the legal interests of an applicant, in an unrelated matter, to interfere with that duty.  Accordingly, the Medical Staff Bylaws (or related policies) should state very clearly that every applicant bears the burden of submitting a complete application and of producing information deemed adequate by the hospital for a proper evaluation of current competence, character, ethics, and other qualifications and for resolving any doubts.

A somewhat similar issue arose in a 1997 case, Eyring v. East Tennessee Baptist Hospital, 950 S.W.2d 354 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1997), in which a physician applicant refused to sign a release form authorizing a hospital where he had previously practiced, to send information to another hospital where he had made an application.  The physician argued that he received legal advice that signing the release could compromise his lawsuit against that hospital, which had revoked his privileges.  The court held that because the physician had not provided the additional information that the hospital requested regardless of the fact that a settlement agreement was in place, he had not submitted a complete application and, thus, under its Bylaws, the hospital was not required to process his application further.  Bottom line, the caselaw is very strong in this area in terms of supporting hospitals and medical staffs that are requesting information from applicants relevant to an assessment of their qualifications – do not be thrown off course by lawyers!