CMA Applauds Lawsuit To Protect Patients At City Of Hope National Medical Center

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 05 May 2010 - 5:00 PDT


The California Medical Association issued the following statement today in support of a lawsuit filed by the physicians who make up the City of Hope Medical Group against the City of Hope National Medical Center Corporation. The hospital is located in Duarte, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles.

"The California Medical Association (CMA) supports the physicians who have filed suit today to prevent a corporation from taking over physician oversight of care, ending important research and establishing a model of care at the City of Hope National Medical Center that would allow it to charge the government and their patients more for outpatient services," said Brennan Cassidy, M.D., CMA president.

"CMA believes affiliation agreements between hospitals and medical groups should be fair and reasonable, and the agreements must allow medical groups to control the clinical roles and responsibilities to safeguard quality of patient care," Cassidy said.

"The City of Hope National Medical Center Corporation is abandoning the medical group entirely to create a model giving it control over crucial decisions made by physicians about medical care," Cassidy said. "The corporation's blatant power grab violates California's sacrosanct patient protection prohibiting hospitals from directly hiring physicians and exerting influence over a doctor's medical judgment as to what is in the best interest of a patient."

Source
California Medical Association

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