Sadler v. Dimensions Healthcare Corp.

• Decision Date: 26 November 2003
• Docket Number: No. 12,12
• Citation: 378 Md. 509,836 A.2d 655
• Parties: Cynthia Denise SADLER v. DIMENSIONS HEALTHCARE CORP., et al.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

836 A.2d 655

378 Md. 509

Cynthia Denise SADLER v. DIMENSIONS HEALTHCARE CORP., et al.

No. 12, Sept. Term, 2002.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

November 26, 2003.

Laurence S. Kaye (The Kaye Law Firm, on brief), Gaithersburg, for petitioner.

Phillip R. Zuber (Sasscer, Clagett & Bucher, on brief), Upper Marlboro, for respondents.

Argued before BELL, C.J., ELDRIDGE,¹ RAKER, WILNER, CATHELL, HARRELL, and BATTAGLIA, JJ.

RAKER, J.

Cynthia Denise Sadler, M.D., petitioner, was denied privileges to admit patients at Prince George's Hospital. Petitioner filed suit against respondents, parties to the denial decision,² alleging a series of counts, including breach of contract, several torts, and an action for declaratory judgment. The Circuit Court for Prince George's County granted summary judgment in respondents' favor. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed, Sadler v. Dimensions Health, 141 Md.App. 715, 787 A.2d 807 (2001), and we granted Sadler's petition for writ of certiorari. Sadler v. Dimensions Health, 369 Md. 179, 798 A.2d 551 (2002).

In this action, we address the standard by which a circuit court should review, in the context of contract and tort claims, a decision of the Board of Directors of a privately owned hospital as to who should have staff privileges at the hospital. In this case, the trial court granted summary judgment on all counts in favor of respondents on the ground that the hospital's actions, taken in compliance with the hospital's bylaws, were supported by substantial evidence. We shall hold that the trial court, on a motion for summary judgment as to contract and tort claims, may not apply a "substantial evidence" standard akin to that applied during judicial review of the final action of an administrative agency. Rather, in accordance with Maryland Rule 2-501(e), a motion for summary judgment is appropriate only when there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Accordingly, we shall reverse.

I. Background

Petitioner, a licensed physician in the State of Maryland with a specialty in obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), applied for privileges at Prince George's Health Center. The hospital is owned and operated by Dimensions Health Corporation, a non-profit corporation. The protracted relationship which ensued is described in detail in the opinion of the Court of Special Appeals as follows:

"In April, 1993, three incident reports concerning Dr. Sadler were filed. They involved her failure to respond to calls and initiate timely treatment, a broken humerus and permanent nerve injury following a birth, and a retained surgical sponge. The Patient Care Committee of the OB/GYN Department (`PCC') reviewed the reports and concluded that continued observation of Dr. Sadler's `pattern of practice' was warranted.

"When Dr. Sadler's application for medical staff privileges came before the hospital's credentials committee, action was deferred so that additional information could be obtained on her activities at Laurel Regional Hospital, where she previously had privileges. On July 8, 1993, the chairman of the credentials committee learned that Dr. Sadler was responsible for 28% of the quality assurance reviews at that hospital during her tenure there. Furthermore, he learned that when Dr. Sadler was informed by Laurel Regional Hospital that she was going to be monitored for a period of several months, she did not apply for reappointment to its medical staff.

"On November 1, 1993, Dr. Sadler was granted provisional privileges for two years at the hospital. Her provisional privileges were extended by the Board of Directors in November 1994.

"From September 1994 to July 1995, the PCC was referred sixteen of Dr. Sadler's cases, seven of which were found to involve significant opportunities for improvement and four involved breaches of the standard of care. On October 24, 1995, at the request of Dr. Cox and Dr. Quraishi, members of the OB-GYN department, Dr. Sadler met with the Director of Risk Management of the hospital and reviewed her entire medical staff credential file, including her incident reports. The PCC met with Dr. Sadler on November 13, 1995, to review five cases. Three involved non-indicated or precipitous cesarean sections and two involved delayed responses to calls from the hospital staff. Following that review, the PCC recommended that Dr. Sadler consult with more senior practitioners for second opinions before performing cesarean sections.

"Dr. Quraishi, who had become the chair of the OB/GYN department, refused to rate Dr. Sadler satisfactory on the provisional evaluation of her for the period from November 1994 until April 1995, because of fourteen multiple risk management reports, five involved substantial opportunities for improvement and one involved a breach of standard of care. On August 12, 1996, Dr. Quraishi in the provisional evaluation of Dr. Sadler's performance for the period from April 1995 to October 1995, rated it as unsatisfactory.

"On September 3, 1996, Dr. Quraishi, as chief of the OB/GYN department recommended to the credentials committee that Dr. Sadler's provisional status be extended for an additional six months and that her activities be `closely monitored.' On October 22, 1996, the credentials committee recommended that Dr. Sadler's provisional status be extended for an additional six months with monitoring to be set by the Medical Executive Committee of the hospital (`MEC').

"On November 11, 1996, the PCC met to review several of Dr. Sadler's cases. That committee discussed the cerclage procedures performed by Dr. Sadler and recommended that an Ad Hoc Committee review that performance.

"The MEC, acting on the recommendation of the credentials committee, voted on November 12, 1996, to extend Dr. Sadler's provisional privileges for an additional six months due to `repeated peer review and risk management issues.' An oversight committee for all departments of the medical staff also decided that day to recommend to the OB/GYN department that it retain the services of an outside consultant to review Dr. Sadler's patient care.

"On December 2, 1996, certain members of the OB/GYN department met with Dr. Sadler to discuss the incident reports on her, her professional behavior and other departmental issues. At that meeting, Dr. Sadler was provided copies of all the incident reports. In reply, Dr.

Sadler claimed that staff members were `out to get her' and questioned why she was being singled out. She also stated that there was a group of nurses who were against her.

"Harold Fox, M.D., Professor and Chief of OB/GYN at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and George R. Huggins, M.D., Associate Director of OB/GYN at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Director at Bayview Hospital, were retained by the OB/GYN department of the hospital on April 4, 1997, to review charts of a broad spectrum of OB/GYN cases of Dr. Sadler and random charts of other members of the OB/GYN department of the hospital. Following that review, they concluded that there was `a significant opportunity for improvement in both documentation and patient management' by Dr. Sadler. They recommended in their report that Dr. Sadler be subjected to case-by-case premonitoring for surgical indications. At an emergency meeting on April 25, 1997, the MEC considered the report of Drs. Fox and Huggins, the cerclage review findings, a chronology of events, and the recommendations of the PCC and the credentials committee. Based upon that review, all members of the MEC (seventeen present), with the exception of Dr. Frederick Corder, voted not to extend Dr. Sadler's provisional privileges beyond July 27, 1997, and until that time to impose monitoring and proctoring.

"Dr. Sadler was notified of the decision of the MEC on April 28, 1997, by a hand-delivered letter from Dr. David M. Goldman, the Vice President for Medical Affairs of the hospital. That letter also advised Dr. Sadler that since the action to terminate her privileges was an adverse action, she had a right to request a hearing pursuant to the provisions of the bylaws. Dr. Sadler exercised that right on May 10,1997.

Sadler, 141 Md.App. at 719-722, 787 A.2d at 809-11.

Following the hospital's notification to petitioner of the MEC's decision to terminate her privileges, petitioner appealed, pursuant to the bylaws, to the Ad Hoc Committee.³ Over the following year, the hearing committee convened on nine days, hearing testimony from a variety of witnesses. The witnesses included the individual respondents in the present case, as well as petitioner and a number of additional witnesses called by petitioner. Witnesses provided testimony and presented exhibits. All were subject to cross-examination by counsel for the hospital and petitioner.

On April 1, 1999, the hearing committee issued a thirty-page written report, providing a summation of the evidence presented, its findings with regard to the alleged actions of petitioner, and the appropriateness of the MEC's decision not to extend petitioner's privileges. The committee recommended that the MEC's decision be upheld.

Petitioner exercised her right under the hospital bylaws for appellate review⁴ by the Board of Directors. Following oral argument, the Appellate Review Committee recommended that the Board affirm the decision of the MEC, and the Board followed that recommendation.

Subsequently, petitioner filed the present action in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, alleging contract and tort claims. The defendants included the respondents, as well as Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Harold Fox, M.D., and George Huggins, M.D. Respondents filed motions for summary judgment, seeking dismissal for a variety of reasons including immunity under both state and federal law. Following a hearing on respondents' motions for summary judgment,⁵ petitioner filed a second amended complaint, the subject of the present proceeding. The complaint includes...