Opinion ID: 2608898
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Membership on Medical Staff

Text: Section 1316.5 provides for health facilities to allow clinical psychologists to be members of the medical staff. Such membership encompasses responsibility to the hospital governing body for the quality of in-hospital medical care; evaluation of the qualifications of applicants and holders of staff privileges; recommendations for appointment, reappointment, curtailment and exclusion from staff privileges; and provisions for peer group methods for reviewing basic medical, surgical and obstetrical functions. ( West Covina Hospital v. Superior Court (1986) 41 Cal.3d 846, 852-853 [226 Cal. Rptr. 132, 718 P.2d 119, 60 A.L.R.4th 1257]; Matchett v. Superior Court (1974) 40 Cal. App.3d 623, 628 [115 Cal. Rptr. 317].) This provision does nothing more than afford a clinical psychologist on a hospital's medical staff a voice in the policymaking body of the hospital; it does not grant the psychologist primary responsibility for patients. The analysis above mirrors the interpretation of the statute by the Department.