Comments on Some Topics Highlighted At Extraordinary General Meeting of 21 February 2003

To help clarify certain points that were raised at the EGM mentioned above, reference was made to the following three documents,

1. Medical Staff Contract
2. Rules & Regulations
3. Bylaws

Formation of a Union

I could find no reference to the above matter in any of the above documents. So there is apparently no contractual bar to such an association.

Credentialing

There were 2 references to this matter,

1. In section II (2) a of the By-Laws, it is implied that credentialing shall be "exercised in consultation with the MAB".
2. Then again in section IV C 1 i of the By-Laws, it is stated that credentialing shall be based on "recommendations to the management of SJMC" by the MAB.

(My own italics)

The thing to note is that neither section states that the hospital is duty bound to follow the recommendations or opinions of the MAB. As such I would have to conclude that we will not be able to block new applicants from joining the hospital if the hospital wishes to ignore the MAB.

This is open to interpretation and others may be of the opinion that consultations are essential and that the recommendations are binding on the management.

Need for the MAB

1. In both section IV A and section IV C 2 of the By-Laws it is stated that the MAB "functions as a liaison between the Medical Staff and the management and owners of SJMC"
2. With regard to the Fee Schedule, changes may only be made "by agreement between SJMC and the MAB" (section 3 (a) of our contract)

It would, therefore, appear that any attempt to suspend the MAB would result in the loss of our means of communication with the owners and management. We would also lose the ability to make amendments to the Fee Schedule.

It would be very simple for the management to then say that they had no means to effect any changes to the Fee Schedule as they were bound by the contract to only communicate with the Medical Staff through the MAB, in particular, with regards to matters pertaining to the Fee Schedule.

In short, suspending the MAB would be akin to shooting ourselves in the foot.

Sale of Hospital to a Third Party

The only relevant section I could find was in section 14 of our contract. In short, it would appear that our contracts will no longer be valid should the hospital decide to sell it as they would be unable to assign our rights to the third party except with the express consent of the Medical Staff.

I, therefore, presume that we would have to negotiate a new contract with the new owners. Legal opinion would probably be needed to further clarify this point.