Happy Freddie (3)

The Day of the Board Meeting
I was thinking of Freddie all day. The Board meeting usually starts at 12 noon. The Directors and officers take lunch, then discuss matters on the agenda till three or four in the afternoon. Anyway, at around 10.30 in the morning, I receive a call from the MSS secretary who said RQV wanted to confirm if I was available for a meeting after the Board meeting. Of course, I said yes, as I had a feeling this was going to be about the MSS C&BL.

I sent Freddie a text message informing him of this appointment and requested that he inform me of what transpired during the meeting so I know how to proceed. In four seconds flat, my phone rang. It was Freddie. We talked a bit and wished each other luck.

Half an hour later, RQV was at my office requesting for a meeting. The secretary had it all wrong: RQV wanted to see me before the Board meeting, not after.

I was at a loss. For a split second there, I felt like panicking. But I gained my momentum back in a millisecond. The general was nowhere to be seen, so the political adviser has to confront the situation and gain an advantage for the general in battle.

To make a long story short (or shorter), I was able to make RQV see the folly of his ways. I pointed out to him that the Board can control the medical staff better and with legal, binding effect through official issuances called Board resolutions; that these issuances give the Board an advantage over the MSS as Board resolutions indicate the exercise of management prerogative, a more powerful right than the right to organize, should things come to a head. Moreover, the only way to go around the current C&BL was to dissolve the MSS and put up another organization in its place. Messy.

I explained to him that should the Board insist on interfering with the MSS, it would have a right of action against the hospital based on abuse of discretion and, thus, a course of action through certiorari proceedings. He listened very intently.

In the end, he admitted that issuing resolutions and coming up with policies and procedures for the medical staff was the best way to go, and that the Board should forget about the MSS and start acting like a Board.

I took the opportunity and volunteered the SC's assistance in drafting the policies, considering that it had already started on the service agreement and code of conduct. In fact, I pointed out, the SC cannot possibly proceed with the project without clear policies from the Board regarding all aspects concerning the medical staff.

Although I wanted Freddie to work on this and win the battle, the opportunity has presented itself and I could not let it pass.

To be continued...
P.S. The above should be read tongue-in-cheek. My goodness, what corny language! :P