Sorrels v. Queen of Peace Hosp.

• Decision Date: 19 March 1998
• Docket Number: No. 20072,20072
• Citation: 575 N.W.2d 240,1998 SD 12
• Parties: William F. SORRELS, D.O., Appellee, v. QUEEN OF PEACE HOSPITAL, A South Dakota corporation, Appellant.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

Page 240

575 N.W.2d 240

1998 SD 12

William F. SORRELS, D.O., Appellee, v. QUEEN OF PEACE HOSPITAL, A South Dakota corporation, Appellant.

No. 20072.

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

Argued Dec. 3, 1997.

Decided Feb. 11, 1998.

Rehearing Denied March 19, 1998.

Scott N. Heidepriem, Mark F. Marshall, of Johnson, Heidepriem, Miner, Marlow & Janklow Sioux Falls, for appellee.

James E. McMahon, Roger A. Sudbeck, of Boyce, Murphy, McDowell & Greenfield, Sioux Falls, for appellant.

KONENKAMP, Justice.

¶1Doctor William F. Sorrels admitted to possession of cocaine and resigned his medical staff privileges at Queen of Peace Hospital. After completing a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, his privileges were restored, subject to conditions. When federal charges were later brought against him, he agreed to further restrictions, including that he not exercise any privileges requiring "a valid DEA registration permit and number," without which he was barred from dispensing controlled substances. Nonetheless, he prescribed a controlled substance for one of his patients believing another physician could later co-sign his order. The Hospital revoked his privileges without a hearing based upon his written waiver. Sorrels obtained a writ of mandamus from the circuit court ordering the Hospital to hold a due process hearing. Was he clearly and indisputably entitled to mandamus relief? Based upon the conditions he agreed to, we conclude Sorrels had no clear right to compel the Hospital to give him a hearing, and thus the circuit court abused its discretion in granting mandamus.

Facts

¶2On December 6, 1993, during an interview with agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency, William F. Sorrels, D.O., a licensed physician engaged in private practice, admitted to illegal possession of cocaine for personal use. Sorrels later entered the Worthmore Drug and Alcohol Treatment program and voluntarily relinquished his medical staff privileges at the Queen of Peace Hospital in Mitchell, South Dakota. ¹ After completing treatment, he reapplied for staff privileges at the Hospital, which were restored subject to certain conditions. Sorrels was thereafter indicted in January 1995 on charges of cocaine possession. As part of his guilty plea to a misdemeanor, he signed a written plea agreement, relinquishing his DEA certificate, without which he could not lawfully order, prescribe, or dispense controlled substances. ² See 21 U.S.C. § 821 et seq. Consequently, he agreed to new restrictions on his privileges. ³ Two pertinent conditions required:

1. Doctor Sorrels must voluntarily relinquish all medical staff privileges granted to him that require a valid DEA registration permit and number.

* * * * * *

4. With regard to the relinquishment of Doctor Sorrels' medical staff privileges, he must waive any and all rights of due process to which he is entitled under the Medical Staff Bylaws, Rules and Regulations of Queen of Peace Hospital, to be applicable only to acts which would violate the conditions placed upon his privileges.

(emphasis in original). His voluntary relinquishment also provided I, William F. Sorrels, D.O., do hereby voluntarily relinquish, effective October 31, 1995, any and all medical staff privileges at Queen of Peace Hospital in Mitchell, South Dakota, that require a valid Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) registration permit and number. I also do hereby voluntarily give up all rights of due process which I am entitled under the Medical Staff Bylaws, Rules and Regulations of Queen of Peace, to be applicable only to acts which would violate the conditions as set forth in the attached list of "Conditions Placed Upon Dr. Sorrels' Associate Medical Staff Privileges at Queen of Peace Hospital" incorporated by this reference.

¶3On December 1, 1995, Dr. Ronald Anderson, the Hospital's Chief of Staff, wrote to Sorrels requesting that he "describe in detail any and all arrangements you made to insure that a physician with a valid DEA license will be available when you are confronted with a situation in which a prescription of controlled substances might be necessary." Sorrels promptly answered, writing "I have arranged with my associate, Dr. Christiane Maroun along with other surgeons, orthopedic surgeons and family practice specialists to co-sign my orders for controlled substances when the necessity arises for their use on my patients." ⁴ On December 14, 1995, Anderson replied: "Since Condition # 1 does not allow you to prescribe and/or sign orders for controlled substances, it would be inappropriate to have other physicians co-sign orders you prescribe for controlled substances."

¶4As it happened, however, between Sorrels' proposal and Anderson's response, the incident occurred giving rise to this case. Sorrels' two-year-old patient, Trevor Clark, had been suffering from febrile seizures. Trevor's father took him to the Hospital Emergency Room in the early morning of December 11, 1995. At 4:00 a.m., Sorrels was called. He prescribed Diazepam, a controlled substance, to be administered orally to Trevor. An emergency room physician was present, but Sorrels never conferred with that doctor, nor did he request any other physician with a DEA certificate to order or co-sign for the drug. The Hospital Executive Committee concluded Sorrels had violated his conditions by ordering a controlled substance without a DEA certificate and recommended his privileges be revoked. On December 20, 1995, the Board of Trustees agreed and effectively terminated Sorrels' staff privileges.

¶5Initially, Sorrels sued the Hospital for damages. Then, in October 1996, he filed an Application for Writ of Mandamus. The circuit court granted the writ compelling the Hospital to give Sorrels a due process hearing and reinstating his staff privileges until such hearing could be completed. We stayed the order of temporary reinstatement and granted intermediate appeal to consider whether Sorrels established a clear and indisputable case for mandamus.

Analysis and Decision

1. The Nature of Mandamus

¶6Mandamus is a potent, but precise remedy. Its power lies in its expediency; its precision in its narrow application. It commands the fulfillment of an existing legal duty, but creates no duty itself, and acts upon no doubtful or unsettled right. See generally Healey v. Rank, 82 S.D. 54, 58, 140 N.W.2d 850, 852 (S.D.1966). To prevail in seeking a writ of mandamus, the petitioner must have a clear legal right to performance of the specific duty sought to be compelled and the respondent must have a definite legal obligation to perform that duty. S.D. Trucking Ass'n., Inc., v. S.D. Dept. of Transp., 305 N.W.2d 682, 684 (S.D.1981) (citing Bandy v. Mickelson, 73 S.D. 485, 488, 44 N.W.2d 341, 342 (1950)) (quoting from Bailey v. Lawrence County, 2 S.D. 533, 537, 51 N.W. 331, 332 (1892)); Musselman v. Governor, 448 Mich. 503, 533 N.W.2d 237, 245 (1995); State ex rel. Lillie v. Cosgriff Co., 240 Neb. 387, 482 N.W.2d 555, 557 (1992) ("A writ of mandamus is an extraordinary remedy ... and will issue only when the duty to act is clear."); Bingo Coalition v. Bd. of State Canvassers 215 Mich.App. 405, 546 N.W.2d 637, 640-41 (1996).

¶7Mandamus entails the exercise of discretion, thus the standard of review for a circuit court's decision to grant or deny mandamus is abuse of discretion. Brown v. City of Yankton, 434 N.W.2d 376, 378 (S.D.1989). Cf. 1 S. Childress & M. Davis, Federal Standards of Review § 4.22, at 4-167 (2d ed 1992) (most federal courts employ an augmented abuse of discretion inquiry) (citing cases). Because mandamus may only be granted under exceptional circumstances which require a drastic remedy, it must be shown entitlement to the writ was clear and indisputable. See generally Crowley v. Spearfish Indep. Sch. Dist., No. 40-2, 445 N.W.2d 308 (S.D.1989); Anderson v. City of Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County, 384 N.W.2d 666, 668 (S.D.1986) (mandamus not an absolute right, but a matter of sound discretion); Bailey, 2 S.D. at 536, 51 N.W. at 332.

The writ of mandamus may be issued by the Supreme and circuit Courts, to any inferior tribunal, corporation, board, or person, to compel the performance of an act which the law specially enjoins as a duty resulting from an office, trust, or station; or to compel the admission of a party to the use and enjoyment of a right or office to which he is entitled, and from which he is unlawfully precluded by such inferior tribunal, corporation, board, or person.

SDCL 21-29-1 (emphasis added). Thus, the purpose of the writ is "to compel the performance of an act which the law specially enjoins as a duty resulting from an office ... or to compel the admission" of persons to the use and enjoyment of rights to which they are entitled, and from which they are unlawfully precluded. Anderson, 384 N.W.2d at 668.

¶8Although Sorrels asks merely for a due process hearing, not a ruling dictating its result, he still must establish an unquestionable right to such hearing. Undoubtedly, removal from medical staff privileges affects a physician's livelihood and in the appropriate case mandamus may be invoked to protect fundamental interests. See Anton v. San Antonio Community Hosp., 132 Cal.App.3d 638, 183 Cal.Rptr. 423, 426 (1982). In the absence of other adequate remedies, mandamus is a valid process to compel private corporations to perform their legal obligations. ⁵ Kroeger v. Sioux Falls Humane Soc., 83 S.D. 595, 598, 163 N.W.2d 539, 541 (1968); Smith v. Otter Tail Power Co., 80 S.D. 327, 330, 123 N.W.2d 169, 170 (1963); see also Stern v. South Chester Tube Co., 390 U.S. 606, 607, 88 S.Ct. 1332, 1333, 20 L.Ed.2d 177 (1968)(federal courts may impose mandatory remedy against private corporation under All Writs Act). Sorrels seeks to compel the Hospital to discharge a ministerial duty by complying with its bylaws to provide him a hearing. By the terms of his voluntary relinquishment, the propriety of granting Sorrels' requested writ hinges first...