Illinois court hears hospital's appeal of staff bylaws ruling

The lawsuit is one of a number of cases across the nation in recent years that have threatened physicians' independence from hospital boards.

By Amy Lynn Sorrel, AMNews staff. Jan. 16, 2006.

An Illinois appellate court in January is hearing arguments in a lawsuit that could threaten medical staffs' right to self-governance, which doctors say is the very foundation for ensuring the quality of patient care.

A lower court has already ruled in favor of a group of Danville, Ill., doctors, saying that their medical staff bylaws are contractually binding. The court said that Provena United Samaritans Medical Center violated the bylaws when it, without getting medical staff approval, tried to increase the amount of medical liability insurance doctors had to carry in order to keep their privileges at the hospital.

But hospital administrators are challenging that decision, arguing that they have the right to set policy as they see fit. They argue that Illinois law only protects doctors when a hospital tries to interfere in a physician's medical judgment.

"It is a basic common-sense principle that the hospital board should be able to set liability requirements," said attorney Marcos Reilly, who represents Provena United Samaritans Medical Center.

But doctors say that if the appellate court reverses the lower court ruling and sides with the hospital, "medical staff bylaws would be reduced to meaningless verbiage," according to a friend-of-the-court brief the American Medical Association/State Medical Societies Litigation Center, the Illinois State Medical Society and several Illinois county medical societies filed with the court.

"It's important to protect the professional autonomy of medical staffs," said Craig Backs, MD, Illinois State Medical Society president. "If bylaws can be changed or ignored, then medical staffs have little or no input in the quality of care at hospitals."