Judges: RICHARD P. IEYOUB
Filed Date: 9/27/2002
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Dear Mr. Speed:
You have requested this office to answer five questions regarding the power of Tangipahoa Parish Council to investigate the Tangipahoa Parish Hospital Service District No. 1. You have asked our office to address the following questions:
1) Is the above said hospital service district a department, office or agency under the parish's jurisdiction?
The power to create a hospital service district is specifically given to the police jury of the parish. LA. R.S.
The state, by statute, has given police juries the power to create hospital districts and appoint the commissioners. The First Circuit Court of Appeals has made it clear, however, that: "police juries are creatures of and subordinate political subdivisions of the state, having only such powers as are conferred upon them by the constitution and laws of the state." Washington Parish Police Jury v. Washington ParishHospital Service District,
2) Can the parish council investigate the conduct of the individual commissioners that it appoints and if so, what if any limitations exist as regards this investigation?
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The Fourth Circuit also determined the recent statute (LA. R.S. 46:1503) governing police jury powers with respect to hospital districts is the controlling law. This subsequent special statute would supercede any other earlier general statute. Giammanco v. Pizzolato,
If the conduct is a violation of the law, the appropriate law enforcement agency should be used to investigate. Our Louisiana Constitution mandates that: "[i]n each parish a sheriff shall be the chief law enforcement officer in the parish" LA. Const. Art.
The statute does declare that "[a]ny member of the commission may be removed from office for cause and his appointment rescinded by two-thirds vote of the elected membership of the parish governing authority which appointed him." L.A. R.S. 46:1503(C)(3). Therefore the police jury, being the parish governing authority that made the appointment, may remove a commissioner after obtaining the required elements of "two-thirds vote" and "cause." While the "cause" could be information a law enforcement agency has acquired during its investigation, there is no power specifically granted to the police jury to investigate. The only authority granted by this statute is the actual removal of individual commissioners.
3) Can the parish council investigate general, non-specific allegations of misconduct alleged by members of the public against the hospital service district's members by conducting hearings, subpoena of witnesses, subpoena of documents and if so, can these hearings be closed to the public or must they occur in open public session.
If the conduct is not a violation of the law, then the board of commissioners for the hospital service district, not the parish council, has the exclusive power to investigate members of the hospital district. Under LA. R.S.
4) To what extent is the parish government required to protect the privacy and secrecy of allegations of misconduct by the doctors and/or medical staff at the hospital service district?
The doctors and medical staff, as governmental employees, enjoy a protection of privacy during investigations. The Supreme Court defines the extent of protection by stating: "Public employers' intrusions on constitutionally protected privacy interest of government employees for noninvestigatory, work-related purposes, as well as for investigations of work-related misconduct, should be judged by standard of reasonableness under all the circumstances; under this standard, both inception and scope of intrusion must be reasonable." O'Connor v. Ortega,
5) If the parish government has the authority to review the records of the hospital district's procedure for peer review of a staff physician, are these records, the opinions of reviewing doctors and the procedure as a whole public records open to a full and complete review of the process by the general public?
As noted above, it is the opinion of this office that the parish council would not have this authority. The ability to review these type records would be vested with the management of the hospital or the hospital district board of commissioners, who is specifically delegated with the power to "own and operate" the hospital. LA. R.S.
There is no statute or case law that would give the general public the right to review the procedure for peer review of a staff physician. In fact LA. R.S.
I believe the above opinion has answered you questions. Should you have any further questions, please contact this office.
Very truly yours,
RICHARD P. IEYOUB ATTORNEY GENERAL
By: ____________________________ CHARLES H. BRAUD Jr. Assistant Attorney General
RPI/CHB:mjb
Date Released: September 27, 2002