Verdicts

California's Second Appellate District affirmed a lower court judgment that held a hospital bore the burden of proof on its decision to suspend and terminate the temporary-practice privileges of a physician. Bode v. Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, — Cal.Rptr.3d —-, 2009 WL 1624472 (Cal.App. 2 Dist., 6/11/09) (NO. B207183).

Dr. Georgia Bode was granted temporary, but renewable, practice privileges as an anesthesiologist at Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center pending her application for membership on the hospital's medical staff. While she was awaiting final action on her application, six incidents of medication mishandling were documented against her, prompting the hospital's surgical chief to send her a warning letter advising her that any further lapses could lead to disciplinary action, including suspension of privileges. A few months later, the hospital's computer-based drug dispensary system, Sure-Med, reported that Dr. Bode had withdrawn several medications for a patient's use but, not using all of them, she returned two of them to the dispensary. However, when hospital staff checked the dispensing machine the following day, they could not find the Demerol that had ostensibly been returned by Dr. Bode. Based on this incident, the doctor was informed that her temporary privileges would not be extended. Dr. Bode demanded a hearing on the matter before a judicial review committee (JRC). There, the doctor testified that she could not explain why the Demerol was missing, and that she was sure one of the hospital's nurses saw her return it. That nurse, in fact, signed off on the return. The nurse in question, however, apparently gave different stories on the incident to different people, and she did not testify at the hearing. The JRC was unsure as to how the burden of proof should be allocated, but concluded that if the burden was on Dr. Bode to refute the charges, she failed to produce sufficient evidence to do so. If the burden was on the hospital, it also did not present sufficient evidence to terminate Dr. Bode's privileges.