Reallocating liability to medical staff review committee members: a response to the hospital corporate liability doctrine

Under the doctrine of hospital corporate liability, the hospital governing board bears the responsibility for detecting the incompetence of its staff physicians. Since hospital governing boards are generally composed of lay community members, they lack the expertise to evaluate the clinical competence of their staff. Therefore, they must delegate their screening responsibilities to medical staff review committees. After analyzing the development of hospital corporate liability doctrine, this Note examines the respective policing capabilities of review committees and the governing board. The Note contends that the board should not be held liable for aspects of the policing process which it is incapable of controlling. The Note concludes that, given their superior ability to evaluate clinical competency, staff review committees should shoulder the responsibility for the clinical aspects of staff evaluation, leaving remaining aspects to the hospital governing board. The Note proposes that courts should recognize a cause of action for negligence against medical staff review committee members in order to upgrade the effective policing of the medical profession.     

EMTALA: reaching beyond the emergency room to expand hospital liability

The Office of the Inspector General and private plaintiffs are vigorously pursuing EMTALA violations. These efforts are particularly troubling to hospitals, who face difficult statutory interpretation and application questions, especially in light of managed care reimbursement requirements. Two recent cases, one of them from the United States Supreme Court, expand hospital liability under EMTALA. This Article reviews current EMTALA standards and regulations, and analyzes how the recent decisions, in the absence of congressional action, are likely to impose substantial burdens upon hospitals.     

以"看得见的正义"佑护"看不见的手"——完善反行政性垄断法律责任机制的目标与思路

我国应当以"正当法律程序"的理念为指导,构建公正、合理的反行政性垄断的法律责任基本制度和实施机制,在反行政性垄断之中实现"看得见的正义",才能形成有效、充分的市场竞争机制,让社会主义市场经济中"看不见的手"真正发挥作用。