California Medical Association joins lawsuit against Dignity Health over patients' access to tubal ligations April 28, 2016 CMA, General Corporate Practice of Medicine, In the Courts, Legal Advocacy, Corporate Bar 0 SACRAMENTO — The California Medical Association (CMA) announced today that it has filed a motion to intervene in Chamorro v. Dignity Health, a case involving a Redding, Calif., woman who was denied a tubal ligation agreed upon by her and her physician at Mercy Medical Center Redding, a Dignity Health hospital. “California law clearly forbids unlicensed, untrained administrators from making medical decisions,” said CMA President-Elect Ruth Haskins, M.D. “It is imperative that patients and their physicians determine the best course of medical care to ensure quality treatment and patient safety.” The American Civil Liberties Union initiated the lawsuit on behalf of Rebecca Chamorro and Physicians for Reproductive Health after the hospital cited religious directives in denying Ms. Chamorro a tubal ligation. In joining the lawsuit, CMA asserts that physicians and hospital medical staffs — not hospital administrators or other non-medical laypersons — should be the primary decision-makers in matters pertaining to medical care. In this case, CMA asserts that the medical staff was not consulted in the determination of this particular directive despite it affecting whether and how patients can receive care from physicians who practice at the hospital. “This is not about religious beliefs,” said Francisco J. Silva, CMA general counsel and senior vice president. “This is about ensuring that a patient walking into a hospital can expect to receive sound medical care from trained medical professionals — not from hospital administrators motivated by non-medical policy directives. California law prohibits corporations from practicing medicine in order to protect patients from decisions motivated by non-medical factors that are not related to patient care.” A court hearing on the motion to intervene is scheduled in San Francisco for May 25, 2016. If CMA is allowed to intervene, it will join the plaintiffs as the case proceeds. Comments are closed.
