OPEN MEETINGS LAW
Hamrick v. Charleston Area Med. Ctr., Inc. , No. 33107 (W. Va. Mar. 1, 2007)
The
Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that a hospital’s
Medical Staff Executive Committee (“MSEC”) was a “governing
body” for the purposes of the state’s Open Hospital Proceedings
Act (the “Hospital Act”) and, therefore, meetings of the MSEC were
open to the public.
The question regarding application of the Hospital Act arose when a physician, who was not a member of the hospital's executive committee, was denied entrance to its MSEC meeting. The physician brought suit, alleging a violation of the Hospital Act’s provision that requires that the meetings of a hospital’s “governing body” be conducted in an open and public manner. The physician argued that the MSEC was a "governing body," as it routinely made recommendations to the hospital’s Board of Trustees, and these recommendations were almost uniformly approved without change.
The Supreme Court of Appeals agreed with this argument, finding that a hospital could have more than one governing body for the purposes of the Hospital Act. The court further opined that the language of the Hospital Act expressly included not just hospital governing boards, but also those groups that make "recommendations to a hospital on policy or administration."