Opinion ID: 159841
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Cottonwood Hospital and the Anesthesia Department

Text: 4 Cottonwood Hospital is located in Murray, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City. The hospital is governed pursuant to bylaws recommended by the Cottonwood Hospital medical staff and adopted by the Cottonwood Hospital Board of Trustees. The bylaws establish separate departments within Cottonwood Hospital, including a Department of Anesthesiology. Anesthesiology services at Cottonwood Hospital are provided by the members of the Department of Anesthesiology (Department), all of whom are licensed anesthesiologists who practice medicine independently of each other. The anesthesiologists are not considered employees of the hospital. The Department schedules anesthesiologists to cover the operating room (OR), the labor and delivery room, and other areas of the hospital. Each area requires a specific number of anesthesiologists each day. Historically, anesthesiologists working in one area have not been regularly scheduled in another area. The OR and labor and delivery divisions have each had a certain number of slots, or physicians, who rotate in the schedule. A new physician is usually only added to the rotation in these areas when another physician leaves. 5 Until November, 1993, two anesthesiologists from the Department were responsible for scheduling anesthesiology services at Cottonwood. In November, 1993, a single anesthesiologist, Dr. Farley, became the monthly scheduler. He was selected as scheduler by a two-thirds majority vote of the voting members of the Department. As the scheduler, Dr. Farley was responsible for ensuring that a sufficient number of anesthesiologists were assigned to cover each area of the hospital at all times. Prior to February, 1994, a single department member was assigned to cover each 24-hour labor and delivery shift.