Marin General Hospital is suing Sutter Health, alleging the hospital chain improperly siphoned $120 million from the medical center over the past four years.

The suit filed Thursday claims Sutter Health transferred about $30 million a year from Marin General starting in 2006 when Sutter knew the hospital would be breaking away from the chain.

Lead attorney Jim Brosnahan noted the annual amount, taken without approval from the hospital’s board, was about ten times the amount it transferred during the prior five years when the two were merged.

“Those board members seem to have gone under the spell of Sutter as though they were almost paralyzed,” Brosnahan told KCBS reporter Anna Duckworth.

An entirely new board took over Marin General on June 30.

A spokeswoman for Sutter, Kathie Graham, refused to comment on the pending litigation, but insisted the health chain “”complied in all respects with the legal agreements that governed the transfer of Marin General.”

The public is who suffers from the lost money, said one of the new board members, Dr. Tim Sowerby, since it would otherwise be used to fund patient care.