Tenet Press Release

December 22, 2003 12:14 PM US Eastern Timezone

E. Peter Urbanowicz Named Tenet's General Counsel

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 22, 2003--Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE: THC) announced today that E. Peter Urbanowicz, since 2001 the deputy general counsel of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has been named Tenet's general counsel, effective immediately.
Urbanowicz, 39, will be responsible for leading all of Tenet's legal activities at the corporate, regional and hospital levels. He will report to Trevor Fetter, president and chief executive officer.

"Peter has a strong background as a health care lawyer and as a senior legal advisor to top federal health care officials," Fetter said. "He has an outstanding reputation in this industry and has the legal talent, experience and high ethical standards to help us resolve our current challenges and establish the right tone for the future."

Fetter added, "Tenet and its new management team are very serious about putting in place new model systems to assure quality patient care and compliance with all government regulations. We are determined to be the industry leader in these areas. I look forward to working hand-in-hand with Peter to put our current legal challenges behind us and operating this company in a manner that achieves these goals."

Urbanowicz said, "People should expect a special relationship of confidence and trust in the lifesaving world of health care. I am committed to making sure Tenet has such a relationship with its patients and the public."

He added, "This is a significant professional challenge, and I appreciate the confidence of the Tenet board and management has placed in me to help make Tenet a leader in health care quality and corporate compliance."

Urbanowicz was appointed deputy general counsel at HHS in October 2001. In that role, he has played a key role in providing programmatic and regulatory support to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. He also has supervised and managed litigation involving health care matters. In addition, he has been a visible advocate throughout the country of the Bush Administration's health care policy objectives.

Before joining HHS, Urbanowicz was a partner in the law firm of Locke Liddell & Sapp, specializing in health care law. From 1998 to 2000, he was partner in the New Orleans law firm of Liskow & Lewis and was head of the firm's health care practice. From 1987 to 1998, he was a partner in the New Orleans law firm of Monroe & Lemann and was head of the firm's health care law practice.

Urbanowicz is a cum laude graduate of Tulane University's School of Law. He also holds a bachelor of arts degree in English and political science from Tulane. He is a member of the American Bar Assn. and the Louisiana Bar Assn., and is admitted to the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court. His other affiliations include the American Health Lawyers Assn.

Tenet Healthcare Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates 101 acute care hospitals with 25,583 beds and numerous related health care services. Tenet and its subsidiaries employ approximately 107,500 people serving communities in 15 states. Tenet's name reflects its core business philosophy: the importance of shared values among partners--including employees, physicians, insurers and communities--in providing a full spectrum of health care. Tenet can be found on the World Wide Web at www.tenethealth.com.

Certain statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements. They are based on management's current expectations and could be affected by numerous factors and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Certain of those risks and uncertainties are discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's transition report on Form 10-K for the 7-month period ended Dec. 31, 2002 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Do not rely on any forward-looking statement, as we cannot predict or control many of the factors that ultimately may affect our ability to achieve the results estimated. We make no promise to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of changes in underlying factors, new information, future events or otherwise.