Staff discipline

The HSC board had the right to appoint, suspend or remove all medical and other staff and employees.

The board required that complaints alleging misconduct against a member of the medical staff be in writing and detail the specific misconduct alleged. Complaints were to be sent to the President or the appropriate vice-president. These complaints could be forwarded to the appropriate department head for informal resolution. If the complaint involved the department head, the Senior Vice-President Medical would deal with it.

Where the informal process failed or the complaint was deemed to be of a serious nature, the complaint was handled by the complaints committee of the Medical Advisory Committee. The committee investigated the complaint and, if it deemed necessary, struck a hearing panel. The panel's report was forwarded to the board, which decided on the course of action to be followed.

In addition, a department head had the right at any time to immediately suspend, or otherwise limit, the privileges of a member of the department, for up to 10 working days, for conduct that the head reasonably believed might negatively affect patient care or would constitute a serious breach of ethical standards (Exhibit 41, section 9.5.51).

In such a situation, the department head was required to initiate a complaint and inform the SVP.