Adem v. Des Peres Hosp., Inc. — Jan. 2017 (Summary)

PEER REVIEW – COMPOSITION OF HEARING PANEL

Adem v. Des Peres Hosp., Inc.
No. ED104191 (Mo. Ct. App. Jan. 24, 2017)

The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Eastern District affirmed the judgment of a lower court dismissing a physician’s claims for injunctive relief, temporary restraining order, and declaratory judgment against his former hospital employer.

The physician, a member of the medical staff at the hospital, was informed that his privileges were going to be revoked.  The physician requested a hearing, but objected to the appointment of the hearing panel, which allegedly failed to comply with the medical staff bylaws because it was comprised of practitioners who did not have sufficiently similar experience to the physician and because one of the panel members was employed by the hospital’s parent.  Although Missouri law typically does not allow judicial oversight of decisions regarding staff privileges, a physician may bring a claim for injunctive relief to require the hospital to abide by its bylaws before revoking privileges.

In this case, the court looked at the bylaws and found no specific provision that disallowed an employee of the hospital’s parent company to serve as a member of a peer review committee.  In fact, the bylaws required physicians to participate in peer review activities, when requested, as a condition of their continued clinical privileges.  Further, the physician did not object to the appointment of the panel within the period of time allowed by the bylaws.  As such, the court found that the physician failed to provide sufficient facts that showed an “express, material, procedural violation of the [hospital’s] bylaws.”

The court declined to determine whether the appointed peer review committee members were “sufficiently similar” to the physician in “practice experience, education or training” because Missouri’s rule of non-review, which allows a court to examine only the procedural guarantees of a hospital’s bylaws, precluded such an inquiry.  Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the lower court.