Honor for ally in bid to defend medical staff independence
As physicians await resolution of a lawsuit that will determine the fate of medical staff independence, the California Medical Association presented AMA President David O. Barbe, MD, MHA, with a formal resolution of gratitude for the AMA's work in protecting medical staff rights.
The AMA and the Litigation Center of the American Medical Association and State Medical Societies have provided significant legal and financial support in a California medical staff's lawsuit, Tulare Regional Medical Center Medical Staff v. Tulare Local Healthcare District et al. The suit was filed after the hospital's board of directors voted to terminate the medical staff organization, remove elected medical staff officers, install a slate of appointed officers and approve new medical staff bylaws and rules without staff input.
"The support of the AMA and the Litigation Center was indispensable to protecting medical staff rights not only in Tulare Regional Medical Center Medical Staff v. Tulare Local Healthcare District et al but throughout California," reads the declaration presented in late October at the CMA House of Delegates' meeting. The CMA recognized the AMA and Litigation Center for "extraordinary commitment to the cause in California of protecting medical staff rights to independence and self-governance.
Read more at AMA Wire.
