Beverly Enterprises-Florida, Inc. v. Deutsch

765 So. 2d 778, 2000 Fla. App. LEXIS 9237, 2000 WL 1004637
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 21, 2000
Docket5D00-278
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 765 So. 2d 778 (Beverly Enterprises-Florida, Inc. v. Deutsch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beverly Enterprises-Florida, Inc. v. Deutsch, 765 So. 2d 778, 2000 Fla. App. LEXIS 9237, 2000 WL 1004637 (Fla. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

765 So.2d 778 (2000)

BEVERLY ENTERPRISES-FLORIDA, INC., etc., Petitioner,
v.
Bartie L. DEUTSCH, etc., Respondent.

No. 5D00-278.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

July 21, 2000.
Clarification and Rehearing Denied August 16, 2000.

*779 James V. Etscorn, Michael N. Hutter and Robert C. Yee of Baker & Hostetler LLP, Orlando, for Petitioner.

Andrew Hamilton of Andrew Hamilton, P.A., Tampa, for Respondent.

COBB, J.

Beverly Enterprises-Florida, Inc. petitions for a writ of certiorari to review the trial court's non-final order allowing discovery. Beverly is the defendant in a negligence suit regarding the care and treatment of an elderly patient, Bartie Deutsch. Two issues are presented:

1. Whether the other residents of the nursing home's right to privacy is violated by the order allowing inspection of Deutsch's former room; and
2. Whether Beverly has standing to protect the right to privacy of one of its employees, a vice-president not involved in the care of the patient.

In December 1997, the plaintiff below, 84-year-old Bartie Deutsch, had a number of health problems. She became a patient in a nursing home run by the defendant, Beverly Enterprises. She sued for negligence. She also brought a claim regarding the care and treatment of a patient under Chapter 400 ("Nursing Homes and Related Health Care Facilities"). The complaint raised a number of claims of Beverly's negligence. Deutsch sought discovery and the trial court ordered an inspection of the room where she had resided and production of a personnel file of one of Beverly's vice presidents, one Alan Davis, who was not involved in Deutsch's care.

Beverly first argues that the compelled discovery involves privacy rights of non-parties. It asserts that the trial court's order allowing entry and inspection of the room where Deutsch resided:

will violate substantive privacy rights of innocent non-parties. This is not a "premises" case and the nature and condition of the specific premises in which Mrs. Deutsch resided during her residency are not at issue in this lawsuit. Even assuming that the specific rooms in which Mrs. Deutsch resided were relevant to this proceeding, Trial Court has failed to narrowly tailor the entry so that it does not infringe on the privacy of elderly residents in the nursing home. Many of the residents suffer from various forms of dementia and are unable to give consent to appreciate why they are either being moved out of their rooms or are having their rooms invaded by strangers.

Beverly's second argument is that Davis was merely the "Group Vice President of the group to which [Beverly] reported." He "was not a direct employee of th[e] facility, nor a caregiver or directly involved with the care and attention Mrs. Deutsch received." Therefore, while Beverly provided the personnel files of 13 employees and the personnel files of two caregivers (April Jones and Paige Moore), Beverly objected to producing Davis's personnel file. Beverly asserts that compelling production of Davis's personnel file violates his right to privacy.

*780 Deutsch responds that the trial court properly entered a proper, narrowly drawn order compelling Beverly:

1. To produce specific items in Alan Davis' personnel file. Davis is a former Beverly employee whose actions directly impacted upon the care and treatment to Deutsch; and
2. To allow at the convenience of the current residents, an on-site inspection of the premises where Deutsch's accident occurred by no more than three representatives, including Deutsch's counsel, with a prohibition against recording or photographing the current residents.

Deutsch maintains that the trial court's order correctly balances the competing interest of the plaintiffs entitlement to reasonable discovery with Beverly's. She also asserts that Beverly has made no showing that it will be irreparably harmed by complying with this order. Deutsch asserts that she was a resident of Beverly's nursing home where she was admitted for rehabilitation of a fractured hip. Despite the fact that Beverly knew she was a fall risk, Beverly allowed her to fall five times in two weeks without changing her care plan, altering her treatment or supervision, moving her to a room closer to the nurse's station, preparing restraint assessments, preparing fall assessments, or providing personal alarms or other interventions. Her sixth fall resulted in a refracture of the hip and a decubitus ulcer which required surgery. Deutsch's theory is that Beverly intentionally under-staffed its facility causing the injuries to Deutsch. Deutsch also argues:

[I]t is significant that Beverly has made no showing that it has standing to assert third-party privacy rights on behalf of its former employee, Alan Davis. When faced with this same issue, the First District Court of Appeal held that "a mere employee/employer relationship is not the kind of special relationship necessary for third-party standing."

For this proposition, Deutsch relies upon North Florida Regional Hosp., Inc. v. Douglas, 454 So.2d 759, 760 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), to indicate that Beverly has not demonstrated it has standing to assert the third-party privacy rights of its former employee. Deutsch also argues that, at the time of her falls, each of the rooms had two residents and therefore "one suspects that in addition to what should be a fairly consistent flow of Beverly employees, each current resident of these rooms expects the room to be viewed by family and friends of the other residents. Obviously, the one resident at all times has a right to be in and observe the other resident and whatever that resident has exposed to plain view." Deutsch thus contends that the patients do not have an expectation of absolute privacy. She points to the fact that she agreed not to photograph or tape the residents or to conduct the inspection at mealtimes, shower times, and agreed to conduct them whenever it was most convenient and least intrusive for the residents.

On the issue of Alan Davis's personnel file, Beverly argues that the personnel file "contains personal information of a potentially sensitive nature and for which Mr. Davis, a non-care giver, has a right to expect will be treated as confidential and private. As a group vice president, Mr. Davis never provided care to Respondent." Beverly says that unlike the personnel files of April Jones and Paige Moore, Davis' personnel file has nothing to do with the case. Therefore, production of his file is not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. Deutsch's argument that Davis may have been threatened or criticized after asking for adequate staffing at the facility "is purely speculative and not based upon any information found in the thousands of documents already produced...." Beverly also argues that the Douglas case appears to be the only case which holds that a hospital does not have standing to assert a privacy right on behalf of its employees. Beverly also distinguishes the Douglas case because Davis was not a care-giver.

*781 As for the concern of the privacy of the residents of the nursing home, Beverly argues that while the residents were aware when they were admitted to the facility that they would have a roommate who might have family and invite a guest, plus medically necessary visits by staff members, that does not mean that they have agreed to have lawyers, photographers, and vidographers invading their privacy.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
765 So. 2d 778, 2000 Fla. App. LEXIS 9237, 2000 WL 1004637, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beverly-enterprises-florida-inc-v-deutsch-fladistctapp-2000.