Doctors fight for enforcement of staff bylaws

An Alabama hospital says its board of directors retains final authority on business decisions.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Jan. 19, 2004.

The Supreme Court of Alabama will determine if a hospital violated medical staff bylaws by transferring a cancer program and radiation oncology equipment to a medical practice affiliated with the hospital.

Radiation Therapy Oncology sued Providence Hospital in Mobile, Ala., after the hospital in 2001 transferred its cancer program to Seton Medical Management, which also is named in the suit.

Radiation Therapy Oncology's physicians were on staff at Providence and had used the hospital's equipment. But they said they lost access to the equipment after the change to Seton and are unable to practice radiation oncology at the hospital, according to court records.

The physicians claim that the hospital's actions breached medical staff bylaws. Providence responded that the staff bylaws do not limit its board of directors' power to make business decisions.

In August, Mobile County (Ala). Circuit Judge Robert Kendall ruled in the hospital's favor.

"This court should not and will not interfere in the internal policies of a private, nonprofit hospital corporation nor in the making of a valid business decision by its board of directors," Kendall wrote in his decision.

Radiation Therapy Oncology appealed to the Supreme Court of Alabama, which could rule on the case this summer, attorneys said.

"If Judge Kendall's rationale is correct, it renders many of the protections in the medical staff bylaws meaningless, because you can't enforce them," said Steven Nicholas, the lawyer for Radiation Therapy Oncology.