Natale v. Sisters of Mercy of Council Bluffs

• Decision Date: 01 April 1952
• Docket Number: No. 47959,47959
• Citation: 243 Iowa 582,52 N.W.2d 701
• Parties: NATALE v. SISTERS OF MERCY OF COUNCIL BLUFFS et al.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 701

52 N.W.2d 701

243 Iowa 582

NATALE v. SISTERS OF MERCY OF COUNCIL BLUFFS et al.

No. 47959.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

April 1, 1952.

Milton W. Strickler and Richard A. Strickler, of Des Moines, for apellant.

Parrish, Guthrie, Colflesh & O'Brien, of Des Moines, for appellees.

BLISS, Justice.

From a record which is confusing in some respects we reach the conclusions noted herein as to the facts. Some of which are not disputed. The Order of The Sisters of Mercy of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was organized and reincorporated for a period of fifty years, on May 21, 1938, as a nonpecuniary corporation under chapter 394 of the 1935 Code of Iowa, I.C.A. § 504.1 et seq. It is a private corporation, and as such, operates hospitals, schools, and other institutions, one of them being Mercy Hospital, in Des Moines. Mercy Hospital appears in the title as a defendant. No pleading alleges what kind of entity it is, if it is an entity. Neither the testimony nor the exhibits make the matter certain. The body having the immediate management and control of this hospital is known as the Governing Board, or as the Executive Board of the hospital, consisting of three Sisters,--a Sister Superior and her first and second assistants. While the hospital is privately operated it is open to the public and it serves all persons without regard to race or creed, although the Governing Board exercises the right to deny its services to any patient or doctor.

During the period involved, three other hospitals were in operation in Des Moines, the Iowa Methodist, the Iowa Lutheran, and the Broadlawns Polk County Hospital. The last named is a public corporation, operated by governmental or municipal authority and supported by the taxpayers. The Methodist and the Lutheran hospitals are private corporations of the same type as Mercy Hospital, and all are operated largely in like manner. There is what is known as a Des Moines Hospital Council which attempts to standardize the regulations and operations of the hospitals. The charges for like services in all of them are substantially the same. There was evidence of a charge of $16 a day for a room in Mercy Hospital. The charity cases are apparently cared for at the Broadlawns Hospital. We base our conclusion upon the following testimony of Sister Mary Anita, a witness for defendants, no longer connected with the hospital, who entered it in June, 1932, and was Superintendent from August 15, 1941, to August 15, 1947. She was asked on cross-examination: 'You give and administer service to the public at large, do you not? I mean that any one that wants to come to your hospital if you have a room vacant you will take care of them, is that right? A. Not necessarily, if they were a patient that should be at Broadlawns we would not have to. * * *

'Q. If there is a sick man, and his doctor calls your hospital, you give him accommodations, don't you, if you have it? A. If we have it and that is the place he belongs. * * * If it is an emergency case we give the patient emergency care, but if it turns out to be a case that should be at Broadlawns or a county case, we would not be forced to keep him.'

The requirements for the admission of doctors to the medical staff of any of these hospitals were the same or substantially so. During the period pertinent to the matters involved herein there were between 40 and 50 doctors on the medical staff of the Mercy Hospital. The staff consisted of two classes, associate and active. In the first named class are the younger and newer members, who, after three years, become eligible to be active members, and to be holders of offices on the staff, which were president, vice president, and a secretary-treasurer. These officers constituted an Executive Committee to act as a Board of Directors to confer and advice, in matters pertaining to the welfare of the Hospital, with the Sister-Governing Body, which is always present at the meetings of the Executive Committee or Staff.

Members of the medical staff of Mercy Hospital and of the other hospitals named above are required to be members in good standing of the corporate body known as the Des Moines Academy of Medicine and Polk County Medical Society, competent doctors, of good character, who conduct themselves in accord with professional and ethical standards, are well recommended and are endorsed by two members of the Polk County Medical Board, or of the Staff.

The plaintiff, Pasquale F. Natale, was born in Naples, Italy, on the 9th of January, 1904, and came to the United States with his parents when he was about two years old. The family settled at Youngs-town, Ohio. They had little means and the parents sacrificed much to educate Pasquale. Upon graduation from high school he attended the University of West Virginia for a year and a half, the Ohio State University for three years and a half, and completed four years at Loyola University School of Medicine in Chicago. He received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science. On graduation from Loyola he received a certificate that he 'has successfully completed four years of medical studies at this institution on June 8, 1932, and will receive the Doctor of Medicine on June 2, 1933, upon the satisfactory completion of the fifth or intern year.' The certificate has the signature of the Dean of the Medical School and the Seal of the University.

Plaintiff took his year of internship at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines, and on its completion he received from it a certificate signed by all of its officers and by the Sister who was the Superintendent, with the seal of the Hospital affixed, dated July 1, 1933, which stated: 'This is to certify that Pasquale Natale having served as Intern for one year as required by the regulations of this Institution and discharged his duties to the entire satisfaction of the Medical Staff and Officers, is hereby granted this certificate.' Before he completed his internship, and on December 2, 1932, he made application before H. W. Grefe, director of examinations, for a physician's license, and presented to him his certificate of graduation from Loyola University School of Medicine, which was accepted as the equivalent of a diploma from the school, and Mr. Grefe made the entry on the application that plaintiff had a diploma. The date of the examination does not appear in the record, but it is shown that it was before the completion of his internship, and that the certificate of Mercy Hospital of said completion was verified and returned by Mr. Grefe to plaintiff on July 1, 1933, and on July 2, 1933, a license to practice medicine was issued by the State Department of Health to the plaintiff. It was thereafter kept in force and the last renewal thereof, as shown by the record, was for the year ending June 30, 1951.

In resistance to plaintiff's petition, and in support of their withdrawal from plaintiff of the facilities of Mercy Hospital, defendants, by answer, alleged three defenses, namely: first, the hospital was a privately operated institution and that a court of equity could not interfere with its internal affairs; second, that plaintiff was not a member of the aforesaid Polk County Medical Society, and therefore not entitled to be on the medical staff of Mercy Hospital; and third, that publicity unfavorable to plaintiff arising from the trial of his divorce suit made his membership on the medical staff of the hospital injurious to the defendants.

It was the contention of plaintiff that the hospital was a public institution receiving governmental financial aid, in the sum of $132,000, and some immunity from taxation, and that he and his patients were entitled to the facilities of the hospital as a matter of right.

It is our conclusion, and it is virtually conceded by defendants, that the impelling reason for the action which they took against plaintiff was the unfavorable newspaper and radio notoriety connected with the divorce proceedings.

After obtaining his license to practice his profession in July, 1933, the plaintiff opened an office in Des Moines. He was a member of the Polk County Medical Society for four years--1935 through 1938. On or about 1938, he opened an office in Ankeny and lived there, although also maintaining his Des Moines office. He paid no dues to the Polk County Medical Society for the year 1938 and was dropped from its membership roll for that reason, and has not been a member since. About January 1, 1947, he applied for admission to the Society. Receiving no response, plaintiff had Mr. Belizzi write the secretary on March 21, 1947. Mr. Belizzi received no reply. Defendants, by Mr. Kingery, Executive Secretary of the Society, read into the record a purported carbon copy of a letter with the name, Harold C. Bone, affixed to it, and addressed to plaintiff, at 406 Southern Surety Building, Des Moines, bearing date of March 19, 1947, stating: '* * * According to the Rules and Regulations of the Polk County Medical Society, as interpeted by the Council, you do not meet the requirements for membership in this Society. * * *' No other reasons were stated. Asked 'Who mailed it?' and 'Did you see it mailed?' Mr. Kingery replied to each question, 'I would not answer that.' He said he did not remember whether he mailed the letter. There was no testimony about postage. Plaintiff testified he never received the letter. On February 4, 1935, he made written application to Mercy Hospital for his appointment to the medical staff of the hospital. At that time he was a member of the Polk County Medical Society. He was a member of the medical staff of the hospital for ten years--from 1935 to March 6, 1945, notwithstanding he was not a member of the Polk County Medical Society after 1938. Sister Mary Anita testified that when a member of the hospital medical staff ceased to be a member of the Polk County Medical Society, that fact 'automatically' dropped him from the hospital medical staff, without any action on the...