There is one reason this is happening and that is pure, unadulterated greed. Brown & Toland's CEO, Gloria Austin, collects a SEVEN-FIGURE annual salary -- obscene even when compared with salaries of local hospital administrators and way more than most physicians. Although there are many great doctors at California Pacific Medical Center, Joel Klompus, B&T's board chairman, is a member of a medical practice where a doctor refused to treat my wife unless she would sign a medical malpractice arbitration agreement. The current president of Sutter Health's West Bay Region and CPMC's chief of medical staff also are members of this practice. They undoubtedly want to eliminate competition for specialty referrals by shutting out the UCSF physicians.