Can a physician who has applied for membership of the medical staff appeal their decision?

Martino v. Concord Community Hosp. Dist. (1965) 233 Cal.App.2d 51, 43 Cal. Rptr. 255, which was discussed approvingly in both Rosenfield and Goehring, is very close on its facts to the present case. The bylaws of the medical staff of a hospital district provided that a physician whose application for membership in the staff has been deferred was authorized to file "a request for appeal" that would be "considered" under another bylaw provision specifying the powers and duties of an executive committee. The court held that "[t]his nebulous procedure" was not an adequate procedural remedy and therefore the plaintiff's failure to request an appeal was not a bar to an action for judicial review. The court noted that a physician whose application has been deferred had "no assurance that he [would] be afforded a hearing ... [and] is entitled only to file a request for appeal which will be disposed of in an unspecified manner by the executive committee of the medical staff." (Id. at p. 57, 43 Cal.Rptr. 255.)