These meetings, according to the memo, are "designed to foster an atmosphere of free and open presentation." These "free and open" dialogues, however, will be preserved word-for-word in an official transcript. "Knowing that everything said will be recorded in an ‘offical transcript’ of the proceedings is hardly something that ‘fosters an atmosphere of free and open presentation,’" says CMA legal counsel Greg Abrams. "The hospital’s history isn’t one that shows a lot of interest in opposing views about its policies."

In a subsequent memo, dated June 20, Drescher cancelled a medical staff meeting scheduled by John Hill, M.D., who was elected chief of staff by the medical staff in November 2002. The memo said that a "call to meeting" notice from Dr. Hill was, according to Drescher, invalid because he "is not the acting Chief of the Medical Staff." The hospital’s refusal to recognize Dr. Hill and the other democratically elected medical staff officers is just one of the tactics by which the staff’s right to self-governance is being undermined.

All chiefs of staff in California have just been sent a letter from CMA that explains the many medical staff self-governance violations that are at the heart of this lawsuit. Click here to download a copy of this letter.

CMA needs your support in this important legal battle. At CMA’s annual meeting in March, the House of Delegates unanimously voted to support the medical staff of Community Memorial Hospital and asked CMA members for financial support. Please make a contribution today to CMA’s Legal Defense Fund online or by calling 916/551-2043.