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State of Maryland on Human Relations v. Suburban Hospital Inc.12/26/1996
Opinion by Davis, J.
The Maryland Commission on Human Relations (Commission) filed a complaint for injunctive relief pursuant to Maryland Code (1957, 1994 Repl. Vol), Article 49B, § 4. The Commission sought to prohibit appellee Suburban Hospital (Suburban) from voting to revoke the hospital staff privileges of Dr. Carol Bender, and from taking "any further actions to terminate, suspend or restrict" her privileges, until a hearing on the merits of an interlocutory injunction or until the conclusion of administrative proceedings pertaining to Dr. Bender's charge of unlawful sex discrimination under the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA), Article 49B, §§ 14 et seq. The administrative charges are currently pending before the State Office of Administrative Hearings. The circuit court denied the request without a hearing by its order of February 21, 1996. That same day, the Commission noted its appeal. On appeal, the parties present the following questions for our review:
I. Is the issue of the denial of ex parte relief moot?
II. Is review of the interlocutory relief issue moot?
III. Did the circuit court abuse its discretion in refusing to issue an ex parte injunction?
IV. Should the Commission's request for review of a denial of interlocutory injunctive relief be denied because the circuit court did not rule on a request for interlocutory relief?
V. Did the circuit court abuse its discretion in refusing to issue an interlocutory injunction?
We answer the first and fourth questions in the affirmative, and the second in the negative. We address the fifth question in order to avoid a second appeal to this Court, and do not reach the third question. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal.
FACTS
Beginning in 1977, Dr. Carol Bender has practiced general internal medicine in Rockville. For most of this period, she has held medical staff privileges at Suburban Hospital, enabling her to admit patients and to provide medical treatment while they are hospitalized. She has also provided coverage for other physicians with privileges at Suburban. As a result of the circumstances surrounding the controversy before us, Dr. Bender no longer holds staff privileges at the hospital. She still maintains a separate office practice and admitting privileges at Shady Grove Hospital.
Suburban follows the unusual practice of encouraging patients and staff at the hospital to complete reports on any negative incident involving a staff member. Reports on a particular individual's behavior are placed in his or her permanent file. Affidavits submitted to the circuit court reveal that this practice is highly unusual, even unique, among area hospitals.
Dr. Bender has accumulated what no one disputes is a rather thick file of these "incident reports," dating from 1981. An exhaustive list of the reports is unnecessary here, but most of them concern Dr. Bender's interpersonal interaction with other doctors, nurses, other medical personnel, and patients, rather than her clinical performance or skills as a physician. Specifically, most of the reports accused her, inter alia, of making rounds in casual attire and bringing her children to work, of engaging in rude, profane, and abusive behavior toward other doctors, nurses, and patients, and of openly criticizing, in an abusive manner, the care provided to her patients by other doctors or staff. Following discussions with hospital administrative personnel about some of these incidents, Dr. Bender accumulated no more reports in her file for three years after 1988. Three reported incidents in 1991 and 1992, however, provoked the Suburban Hospital Creden
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