County of San Diego v. Gibson

BARNARD, P. J.

This is a proceeding in mandamus to compel the respondent, as chairman of the board of supervisors, to execute a contract for the purpose of securing certain medical and teaching services in the county hospital. There is no dispute as to the facts and the issuance of a writ is opposed solely on the ground that this contract cannot, for several reasons, be legally made.

Briefly stated, the following facts appear in the petition. The petitioner maintains and operates a county general hospital, as required by section 2500 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The board of supervisors, herein referred to as the board, has determined that it is necessary to operate this hospital as a teaching hospital in order to adequately staff the institution, to maintain a proper standard of medical care, and to adequately care for persons lawfully admissible to the hospital. There are no medical schools in the area from which a staff of instructors might be drawn. Medical specialists engaged in private practice have heretofore, on a voluntary basis, been used to provide training and teaching facilities to internes, nurses, technicians, and other employees of the hospital ; to provide research and library facilities which would otherwise be unavailable to the county, all of which are necessary to the operation of the hospital as a teaching hospital in order to attract qualified internes, residents, nurses and other personnel; to render medical care and services to patients in the hospital; and to supervise the medical care and services given to the patients by the hospital employees. Such medical care and supervision is highly skilled professional work, and is rendered by specialists of long experience in private practice. The members of this volunteer medical staff comprise approximately three-fourths of the members of the San Diego County Medical Society, an organization composed of all the doctors practicing in the San Diego area.

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The members of this volunteer medical staff are unwilling to become employees of the county, and have informed the board that they are no longer willing to render such teaching services, or to render medical services to patients lawfully admitted to this hospital, unless compensation for such services is paid by the county. They have also informed the board that such compensation is desired solely for the purpose of using the sums so realized in order to secure, for benevolent and charitable purposes, proper medical treatment and facilities for the indigent sick of the county; to foster and promote the latest medical techniques and treatment for the benefit of said indigent sick; to advance the knowledge and practice of medicine through educational and research programs for the benefit of the indigent sick and the general public; and to secure the services of graduates of medical schools and licensed physicians in the treatment of the indigent sick through interne and residenceship programs at this hospital. For the purpose of receiving and administering said compensation for these purposes the members of the volunteer staff have formed a nonprofit charitable corporation under the provisions of section 9200 of the Corporations Code. This corporation is named the San Diego County Hospital Medical Research Foundation, and will be referred to as the Foundation. This Foundation has been granted exemption from franchise taxes and from contribution deductions, as a charitable corporation, by the State Franchise Tax Board, under the provisions of the Revenue and Taxation Code.