Opinion ID: 2612734
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: administrative findings

Text: (3) The evidence of untruthful answers on the application and before the ad hoc committee is undisputed. Despite the request for all hospital affiliations past and present, Dr. Unterthiner omitted Palmdale Community Hospital where he had been suspended and resigned. According to his own testimony he had been tearing up letters from the chief of staff at about the same time that he was applying to Desert Hospital. Similarly, it is undisputed that he was denied privileges at two Santa Barbara hospitals, and he answered in the negative to the question whether he had ever been denied membership in any medical organization. When asked at the ad hoc committee hearing whether he had problems or clashes in the Lancaster-Palmdale area, he stated that he did not have any specific problems, but he subsequently testified before the hearing officer to the problems at the Palmdale Community Hospital, and it was also undisputed that he resigned from Antelope Valley Hospital at a time when disciplinary proceedings had been initiated. The explanations of the false statements do not create a true conflict in the evidence. His explanation that his wife filled out the application and signed it and that he did not review it carefully is questionable when we remember that he was well aware that approval of his applications for hospital privileges in Santa Barbara had been delayed, that there were problems, and that because of the delay he had moved to the Lancaster-Palmdale area three years earlier. The application clearly stated that any significant misstatements or omissions constitute cause for denial of appointment, and even if we assume that he did not receive the rejections from the two Santa Barbara hospitals, he did not explain why  given the importance of hospital privileges to surgeons  he never sought to find out what occurred with his applications in Santa Barbara. In the circumstances, his cavalier attitude toward the application in the instant case is difficult to credit, and even if we do credit the cavalier attitude, the explanation does not justify the falsehoods. As to the suspension-resignation at Palmdale Community Hospital and the disciplinary proceeding at Antelope Valley Hospital, his claim was that his conduct was proper; but the question asked at the ad hoc committee was whether there were problems, and, even assuming that his conduct was proper, it is obvious that there were major problems. The basic findings of falsehood are supported by undisputed evidence and are not adequately explained. In addition, there is other undisputed evidence showing a lack of veracity in relation to hospital activities. He did not deny that he left in the midst of surgery when he was proctoring a doctor having only temporary privileges, that he reported that he proctored the surgery and that he completed the postoperative evaluation before the patient left the operating room. He did not claim that in Santa Barbara when he failed to appear for scheduled surgery or appeared tardily due to his admitted moonlighting at the Los Angeles hospital he advised his mentors or associates of the true reason for his failure to perform his assigned duties. The findings of falsehoods and failure to satisfy ethical standards are amply supported. While there was no specific finding of adverse effect on patient care ( Miller v. Eisenhower Medical Center, supra, 27 Cal.3d 614, 628-630), [7] the obvious purpose of the questions on the application and of the hearings was to obtain a basis for determining whether a grant of privileges would have such effect.