St. Joseph’s Infirmary has a policy of honest integration, Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan said, following reports that the U.S. Public health Service will conduct a final investigation to determine if federal funds should be cut off.

His comments came after a federal agency told its Atlanta office to take “one last look” at desegregation practices at St. Joseph’s to determine if the hospital is complying with the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The probe is scheduled in the spring.

“We’ve negotiated until we’re blue in the face,” said Robert M. Nash, compliance chief. “It’s about time we decided once and for all.” In another development, Dr. Haywood N. Hill, chairman of the hospital’s board of governors said, “T think it’s a crying shame St. Joseph’s has to be singled out for criticism when it is the only institution that did it (integrated) voluntarily and the only one besides Grady Hospital that is really making an effort to make the thing work.”

The archbishop said representatives of the hospital’s Board of Administration and the Sisters of Mercy’s medical staff discussed the matter thoroughly. No statement on the meeting was issued.

“Too much is at stake here to let this issue become political or bureaucratic,’ Archbishop Hallinan said. “The policy of the hospital as to patients, physicians, and other personnel has been one of honest integration. We presume that all other Atlanta hospitals receiving federal funds have the same policy.

“If St. Joseph’s is consistently following this policy, it must receive the same federal treatment as any other institution. If it is charged by Washington officials that it is not following this policy, the facts of the charge should be thoroughly investigated by the proper federal authorities and formally stated.

“The same process should include all the hospitals in the city. In each case, any injustices can be corrected. In the instance of St. Joseph, the administration, conscious of its moral duty, will not hesitate to correct any abuses, factually proved.”

Nash said the investigation would pay particular attention to three factors: 1) whether Negro physicians actually are being offered full staff privileges of the hospital; 2) whether the institution is permitting its physicians to “dump” Negro patients in other hospitals; 3) whether St. Joseph’s is “producing any results” in desegregating its nurses training program.

Nash said other hospitals in Atlanta have accepted all Negro physicians who applied for staff privileges after the citywide desegregation last year. But, he said, doctors at St. Joseph’s “still seem to have trouble” in filling out applications to the satisfaction of hospital authorities.

Dr. Hill said there are only eight Negro doctors among the 400 physicians on the staff because the hospital is mostly for specialists and there are few Negro specialists. “We’ve got nothing to hide,” he commented.

Dr. Hill said he believes the complaints came from a “group of Negro physicians who have tried to pressure us into admittance on the staff and have been unhappy because they have not been able to get on the staff.”

St. Joseph’s was certified to receive federal funds last summer during the citywide desegregation of hospitals, after first being rejected along with other hospitals.

The compliance check was also discussed Sunday at a meeting of the St. Martin’s Council on Human Relations.

Dr. Joseph Wilber, a member of the council and hospital staff, said he could not understand the situation. “St. Joseph’s has the most integrated staff of any hospital, and I guess it is a difference between some Negro physicians and the administration.”

The archbishop said St. Joseph’s and Holy Family were the first two hospitals to desegregate. “Instead of being acknowledged, our two hospitals have taken abuse. It is almost impossible to avoid coming to a conclusion that it is a political football.”