Before the September 7 meeting, at which the recommendation to return to full service was to be discussed, Ullyot met with the four pediatric cardiac anaesthetists individually and discussed their positions on returning the program to full service. They each told her that, despite their ongoing concerns about the program, and in particular the skills of the surgeon, they were prepared to return to doing high-risk cases.

McNeill testified that she had reluctantly come to the conclusion that continued resistance to allowing the program to return to full service was approaching futility, since she felt that the anaesthetists had had an opportunity to have the question of the viability of the program addressed and had not been able to get others to see the legitimacy of their concerns.