JACKSON, MD v. Norton-Children's Hospitals
| Decision Date | 13 November 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 73-1303.,73-1303. |
| Parties | Benjamin B. JACKSON, M.D., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. NORTON-CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS, INC., and Certain Committees and Directors thereof, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Benjamin B. Jackson, M. D., pro se.
Joseph E. Stopher, Louisville, Ky., for defendants-appellees; Edward H. Stopher, Boehl, Stopher, Graves & Deindoerfer, Bert T. Combs, Tarrant, Combs, Blackwell & Bullitt, John T. Ballantine, Ogden, Robertson & Marshall, Joe A. Wallace and Hubert T. Willis, Louisville, Ky., on brief.
Before McCREE and MILLER, Circuit Judges, and KRUPANSKY,* District Judge.
The plaintiff, a licensed physician, sued the hospital for discharging him from the hospital staff, claiming federal jurisdiction on the basis of 42 U.S.C. Secs. 1983 and 1985, and also on the basis of the general federal question statute, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1343. The district court in a carefully reasoned opinion sustained the defendant's motion for summary judgment and dismissed the plaintiff's action. He was of the opinion that the action of the defendant hospital did not constitute state action within the meaning of Sec. 1983, not-withstanding the receipt by the hospital of Hill-Burton funds and the existence of state regulations governing hospitals. A number of cases support this holding and we are of the opinion that it is correct. Whenever state action has been discovered in the activities of an ostensibly private hospital something more than a partial federal funding is involved. See Ward v. St. Anthony Hospital, 476 F.2d 671 (10th Cir. 1973); O'Neill v. Grayson County Memorial Hospital, 472 F.2d 1140 (6th Cir. 1973); Place v. Shephard, 446 F.2d 1239 (6th Cir. 1971); Chiaffitelli v. Dettmer Hospital, Inc., 437 F.2d 429 (6th Cir. 1971); Meredith v. Allan County War Memorial Hospital Commission, 397 F.2d 33 (6th Cir. 1968).
The district court further found that plaintiff was accorded due process of law in his discharge even if it should be assumed that state action was present. The record fully supports the conclusion that the plaintiff was accorded proper notice and a fair hearing at all three levels of the administrative process prior to his discharge, including the Personnel Relations Committee, the Executive Committee, and the Board of Directors Medical Staff Liaison Committee. Despite proper notice, plaintiff failed to attend the hearings or to present any...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Beverley v. Douglas
...429; see also Ascherman v. Presbyterian Hosp. of Pac. Med. Center, Inc., 507 F.2d 1103 (9th Cir.1974); Jackson v. Norton-Children's Hosp., Inc., 487 F.2d 502 (6th Cir.1973) (per curiam), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 1000, 94 S.Ct. 2413, 40 L.Ed.2d 776 (1974); Ward v. St. Anthony Hosp., 476 F.2d 6......
-
Miller v. Indiana Hosp.
...815, 823-24 (S.D.Fla.1981) (Podiatrists are not members of a class protected under § 1985(3)). See also Jackson v. Norton-Children's Hospital, Inc., 487 F.2d 502, 503 (6th Cir.1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 1000, 94 S.Ct. 2413, 40 L.Ed.2d 776 (1974), rehearing denied, 417 U.S. 978, 94 S.Ct. ......
-
Doe v. Charleston Area Medical Center, Inc.
...Ascherman v. Presbyterian Hospital of Pacific Medical Center, Inc., 507 F.2d 1103 (9th Cir. 1974); Jackson v. Norton-Children's Hospital, Inc., 487 F.2d 502 (6th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 416 U.S. 1000, 94 S.Ct. 2413, 40 L.Ed.2d 776 (1974); Doe v. Bellin Memorial Hospital, 479 F.2d 756 (7th......
-
Downs v. Sawtelle
...received tax benefits and Hill-Burton funds, and was alleged to be the only hospital in the area); Jackson v. Norton-Children's Hospital, Inc., 487 F.2d 502 (6th Cir. 1973) (hospital received Hill-Burton funds and was regulated by the state); Doe v. Bellin Memorial Hospital, 479 F.2d 756 (7......