03  Attending assignment

(A)  All patients entering the Arthur G. James cancer hospital and Richard J. Solove research institute (CHRI) who have not requested the services of a member of the medical staff to be responsible for their care and treatment while a patient therein shall be assigned to a member of the attending staff of the service concerned with the treatment of the disease, injury, or condition which necessitated the admission of the patient to the CHRI. This shall also apply to the transfer of patients within the services of the CHRI.

(B)  Alternative attending medical staff member coverage.

Each division shall have a plan for medical coverage. Each member of the medical staff shall designate on his or her medical staff application one or more members of the attending or limited medical staff who have accepted this responsibility and who shall be called to attend his or her patients if the responsible attending medical staff member is not available, the director of medical affairs, section chiefs, department chair or his designee shall have authority to contact any member of the medical staff and arrange for coverage should the attending medical staff member and the alternate be unavailable.

(C)  In the case of a medical or psychiatric emergency involving a patient, visitor or CHRI staff member in an inpatient or outpatient setting, any individual who is a member of the medical staff or who has been delineated privileges is permitted to do everything possible to save the life or prevent serious harm regardless of the individual's staff status or clinical privileges.

(Board approval dates: 11/4/2005, 2/11/2011, 4/6/2016)