The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently found that a hospital's bylaws were part of a physician's employment contract. In James C. Gekas, M.D. v. Seton Corporation, d/b/a Baptist Hospital, the plaintiff physician sued the defendant hospital for breach of contract after the hospital declined to promote him to a permanent position on its medical staff. He claimed that the hospital’s bylaws were part of his employment contract, and that the manner in which the hospital reached its decision violated those bylaws. The trial court granted summary judgment to the hospital. We agree that the bylaws formed part of his contract, but since the record clearly shows that the hospital substantially complied with its bylaws we affirm the trial court.
Reviewing an earlier Tennessee Supreme Court decision, the court noted: "The court concluded that a hospital’s bylaws have become, as a matter of law, an integral part of the contractual relationship between the hospital and the members of its medical staff. Thus, a member of the hospital staff has a contractual right to insist that the hospital follow its own bylaws. Lewisburg Community Hospital v. Alfredson, 805 S.W.2d 756, 761 (Tenn. 1991)."
James C. Gekas, M.D. v. Seton Corporation, d/b/a Baptist Hospital, M2006-00454-COA-R3-CV View
