Both of the court orders that dismissed the claims against Truman referred to the medical center four times by name. One of those orders mentions Truman in both its first and last sentence. Directly below the last sentence, the judge signed his name. Yet Stevens said that does not mean he realized Truman was a defendant. At Truman, Stevens said, he and his fellow governors acted as advisers to the hospital's board of directors.
Governors attend but have no vote at the hospital's monthly business meetings.
That power is reserved for directors, a position Stevens held for nine years before becoming a governor. But governors also serve on policy committees with the directors. Governors may vote at committee meetings, officials said, and their duties can include guiding litigation. The hospital listed Stevens in its corporate filings as part of the medical center's controlling board. But the judge agreed that his actions may have created the appearance of impropriety.