Wyatt v. Tahoe Forest Hospital Dist.

• Decision Date: 23 October 1959
• Citation: 345 P.2d 93,174 Cal.App.2d 709
• Parties: Thomas Daniel WYATT, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. TAHOE FOREST HOSPITAL DISTRICT, a public hospital corporation, Jim Sherritt, Charles R. Heller, I. Firpo, Ace Abbott and Warren Porter, in their personal capacity and as members of the Board of Directors of Tahoe Forest Hospital District, Defendants and Respondents. Civ. 9604.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 93

345 P.2d 93

174 Cal.App.2d 709

Thomas Daniel WYATT, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. TAHOE FOREST HOSPITAL DISTRICT, a public hospital corporation, Jim Sherritt, Charles R. Heller, I. Firpo, Ace Abbott and Warren Porter, in their personal capacity and as members of the Board of Directors of Tahoe Forest Hospital District, Defendants and Respondents.

Civ. 9604.

District Court of Appeal, Third District, California.

Oct. 23, 1959.

Hearing Denied Dec. 17, 1959.

Clifford R. Lewis, of Lewis, Lewis & Lewis, Sacramento, for appellant.

Chamberlain & Chamberlain, Auburn, for respondents.

Peart, Baraty & Hassard, San Francisco, amici curiae for respondent Medical Ass'n.

Musick, Peeler & Garrett, Los Angeles, amici curiae for respondent Hospital Ass'n.

SCHOTTKY, Justice.

Thomas Daniel Wyatt appeals from an adverse judgment in an action brought by him to compel the directors of Tahoe Forest Hospital District, a public hospital corporation, to permit him to follow his profession as a physician and surgeon within the hospital, to attend patients, to do all things a duly licensed physician and surgeon would be permitted to do in and about a hospital, and to allow him the rights and privileges of all other practitioners. The trial court considered the action as one for a writ of mandate and after a hearing denied relief.

The hospital district was organized under the provisions of 'The Local Hospital District Law.' Sections 32000 to 32312, inclusive, Health & Safety Code. It operates a hospital near Truckee, in Nevada County. This hospital is the only California hospital within a radius of 35 miles. Wyatt, who maintains offices at Crystal Bay, Nevada, is licensed to practice in California and Nevada. Most of his patients are California residents. He has been denied use of the facilities of the hospital, and his application for staff membership was denied. The record considered by the directors of the hospital, which consisted of communications from various parties, much of which was hearsay, disclosed that Wyatt was first admitted to practice in California in 1930. In 1936 he was charged with unprofessional conduct in that he offered to and did procure an illegal abortion. In 1938 he was again charged with procuring and performing an illegal abortion operation. His license to practice was revoked in 1939. In October, 1940, his license to practice was reinstated and he was placed on probation for five years. In 1941 he was reprimanded for a violation of the terms of his probation. In addition to the foregoing, it appears from the record that in 1933 a complaint was filed with the Board of Medical Examiners charging Wyatt with being guilty of unprofessional conduct in that he aided and abetted an unlicensed person to practice medicine. This matter was dismissed without prejudice and an admonition given. In 1934 Wyatt was fined for removing property from the California Joss House in Weaverville. In May, 1942, the Board of Medical Examiners issued an order to show cause why Wyatt's license should not be revoked for a violation of the terms of his probation. Wyatt was charged with two counts of unprofessional conduct in that he procured an illegal abortion on two individuals and one count of unprofessional conduct in that he had been found guilty of 'the offense of maliciously and willfully disturbing the public peace.' In this last matter Wyatt's license was revoked by the board, but the decision was reversed by the court. See Wyatt v. Cerf, 64 Cal.App.2d 732, 149 P.2d 309. In March, 1954, a $5,000 judgment was rendered against Wyatt for breach of warranty for failure to remove a uterus. In May, 1954, Mrs. Wyatt brought a separate maintenance action against her husband. She alleged that her husband was always intoxicated. This action was contested and at its conclusion Mrs. Wyatt was awarded a divorce.

By section 32125 of the Health & Safety Code the board of directors of a hospital are empowered to make rules and regulations for the administration and government of the hospital. Section 32128 provides in part that the rules for the hospital shall include provisions for the organization of the physicians and surgeons permited to practice in the hospital into a staff; 'Provision[s] that membership on the medical staff shall be restricted to physicians and surgeons competent in their respective fields, worthy in character and in professional ethics * * *;' and such limitations with respect to the practice of medicine and surgery as the board of directors may find to be in the best interest of the public health and welfare. The section further provides that the rules of the hospital shall, insofar as consistent with the governing statute, be in accord and contain minimum standards not less then those of private hospitals in the district.

The only rules and regulations promulgated by the board of respondent hospital are those pertaining to the medical staff. These were adopted and approved by the governing board of the hospital district. Article III, section 1, on classification, states:

'Membership to the medical staff shall be limited to those physicians and surgeons licensed to practice in the State of California, whose background, experience and training insures, in the judgment of the Board of Directors, that any patient admitted to or treated in the Tahoe Forest Hospital will be given the best possible care and professional skill. Possession of a license to practice as a physician and surgeon in the State of California shall constitute only a condition precedent to application, and shall not be itself determinative of the general competence, qualifications, reputation, or character of the applicant, or his general suitability for staff practice.'

The medical staff is divided into various categories, but, with certain exceptions not relevant here, apparently no one may practice in the hospital unless he is a member of the medical staff.

Thomas Wyatt applied for membership to the staff. His application was rejected by the board of directors. He then sought a hearing. It too was denied, and he brought this action which was decided adversely to him by the trial court.

Appellant contends that as a licensed physician and surgeon he is entitled to practice his profession in a public hospital and that he was entitled to a hearing before the board on his application for membership.

The question whether or not a licensed physician and surgeon is entitled to practice his profession in a public hospital by virtue solely of his being such licentiate is one of first impression in this state. Diverse conclusions have been reached in other jurisdictions in which the question has been considered. It is stated in 26 American Jurisprudence, Hospitals and Asylums, sec. 9 (1959 Supp.), that 'It is generally agreed that the managing authorities of a hospital, under the power to adopt reasonable rules and regulations for the...