MSSNY BYLAWS
JUDICIAL COUNCIL
There shall be a Judicial Council which shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine all appeals from decisions on discipline of component county medical societies or decisions of such societies which may involve the privileges, rights, or standing of members, whether in relation to one another or to component county medical societies or to the Medical Society of the State of New York.
It shall hear also from applicants on appeals from the action of a component county medical society in excluding them from membership.
SECTION A. COMPOSITION
The Judicial Council shall consist of five appointed members. One member shall be appointed by the president each year for a term of five years with the approval of the Council.
No member shall serve for more than two consecutive terms, but a member appointed to serve an unexpired term shall not be regarded as having served a term unless he has served three or more years.
A member of the Judicial Council shall work or maintain a residence or an office in the State of New York, otherwise that position on the Judicial Council shall be declared vacant.
In the event of a vacancy, a member shall be appointed by the president for the unexpired term with the approval of the Council.
The president and secretary of the Medical Society of the State of New York shall be ex-officio members of the Judicial Council with voice but no vote. The executive vice-president, the deputy executive vice-president, and the general counsel of the Medical Society of the State of New York shall sit with the Judicial Council with voice but without vote.
SECTION B. DUTIES AND PROCEDURES
A member of a component county medical society who shall have been disciplined or directed to suffer discipline in any degree by any, final decision of his component county medical society and who shall have exhausted his right of appeal, if any with a component county medical society, feeling aggrieved by the decision of such society, may appeal to the Judicial Council of the Medical Society of the State of New York from the decision of such component county medical society by filing a notice of appeal with the secretary of the State Society and with the secretary of such component county medical society within three months after such final decision by such component county medical society.
An applicant for membership in a component county medical society who has been excluded from membership in such society may likewise appeal from the action of said society.
The Judicial Council shall investigate also all charges proffered (a) by a member of a component county medical society against a component county medical society of which he is not a member; and (b) by a component county medical society against another such component county medical society or a member thereof.
A notice of appeal shall set forth in writing the name of the appellant, the name of such component county medical society and the date and substance of the decision appealed from, and shall indicate the ground or grounds upon which such appeal is taken. If the appellant desires to be present, with or without counsel, at the hearing of said appeal, the notice of appeal must so state. In that event, the appellant must file with the notice of appeal a bond in the sum of $500 to cover the costs of said appeal. If the appellant fails to appear in person or be represented by counsel on hearing of said appeal, the appellant shall forfeit to the Medical Society of the State of New York such shares of said bond as represents necessary expenditures incident to convening the Judicial Council for the hearing of said appeal.
On filing a notice of appeal, the appellant and the component county medical society shall submit to the secretary of the Judicial Council all records, minutes, letters, papers, and all written evidence, including a digest of all testimony not stenographicaly reported relating to the matter. All data so submitted shall be available only to the Judicial Council.
The Judicial Council shall consider the appeal on the data so submitted to it and may affirm, modify, or reverse the decisions so appealed from by a majority vote of the members present and voting. If, in its opinion, the taking of further evidence is advisable, the Judicial Council may summon witnesses and proceed to take such evidence in such manner as it may deem proper and render its decision by a majority vote of those present and voting, which decision shall be final and binding. A member shall have the right of appeal to the Judicial Council of the American Medical Association.
Whenever the Judicial Council has met, the secretary shall report the proceedings to the Council of the Medical Society of the State of New York at its next regular meeting.
The chairman shall submit an annual report of the Judicial Council to the House of Delegates.
SECTION C. MEETINGS
At the direction of the President, the Judicial Council shall organize and elect its own chairman, when the need arises.
The secretary of the Medical Society of the State of New York shall be the secretary of the Judicial Council.
The Judicial Council shall meet on the call of the chairman. The notices of the meetings of the Judicial Council shall state the date, place, and hour and shall be distributed with receipt of mailing to each member not less than ten nor more than fifty days before a meeting.
The affidavit of mailing of the secretary of the Medical Society of the State of New York to the last recorded address or email address of the member of the Judicial Council shall be deemed sufficient proof of the service on each and every member for any and all purposes.
A quorum shall consist of three members of the Judicial Council.
Bylaws
