Reference no: EM131859077

Why it is not mandatory for any doctor to practice in his/ her native place in the 1930s? And what the trial judge said in the Dr. Hagan was case?

In the Hagan case, Dr. Hagan, an osteopathic physician and a Rhode Island native, applied for privileges at a small hospital established in Rhode Island in the 1930s so that osteopathic physicians could treat patients in a hospital setting. At the time this hospital was founded, as well as at the time Dr. Hagan applied for privileges there, this hospital was the only hospital in Rhode Island at which an osteopathic physician would have had any realistic chance of obtaining hospital privileges.

This situation no longer exists. Indeed, Osteopathic General Hospital of Rhode Island no longer exists. My point in explaining this is to emphasize that, if Dr.

Hagan, a lifelong resident of Rhode Island, could not obtain privileges at this hospital at the time he applied, he could never realistically hope to carry on a medical practice in his home state. A physician who seeks to practice medicine needs a hospital affiliation in order to survive economically.

Dr. Hagan's lawyer commenced this lawsuit while Dr. Hagan was in the midst of attempting to obtain privileges at Osteopathic General Hospital. The trial judge, sitting without a jury, heard the case in bits and pieces as Dr. Hagan‘s application for privileges was being processed.

Ultimately, after the hospital refused to grant privileges to Dr. Hagan, the trial judge ruled in favor of the hospital. Dr. Hagan's lawyer appealed to the Rhode Island Supreme Court, which had to decide whether or not the trial judge was correct. It decided that the trial judge was correct.