Ekstrom v. Temple

553 N.E.2d 424, 197 Ill. App. 3d 120, 142 Ill. Dec. 910, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 395
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 29, 1990
Docket2-89-0547
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 553 N.E.2d 424 (Ekstrom v. Temple) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ekstrom v. Temple, 553 N.E.2d 424, 197 Ill. App. 3d 120, 142 Ill. Dec. 910, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 395 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

JUSTICE REINHARD

delivered the opinion of the court:

Contemnors, Community Hospital (hospital) and its attorney, David R Faulkner, appeal from an order of the circuit court of Kane County holding them in contempt and fining each $25 for failure to comply with a prior order compelling production of certain documents. On appeal, contemnors contend that the production order is improper because it requires production of documents which are subject to various privileges against discovery.

Plaintiffs, Doris and Karl Ekstrom, brought this medical malpractice action seeking recovery for injuries allegedly sustained by Mrs. Ekstrom when, following bilateral breast biopsy surgery, she developed toxic shock syndrome necessitating amputation of her legs and numerous fingers. Mr. Ekstrom sought recovery for loss of consortium. Plaintiffs’ first amended complaint names the hospital, several physicians and their employers, and two suture manufacturers as defendants.

On April 28, 1988, plaintiffs filed a request to produce containing 24 numbered paragraphs, seeking various documents from the hospital. Subsequently, the hospital filed a written response objecting on various grounds to the requests in 21 of the 24 paragraphs. Thereafter, in June 1988, plaintiffs filed a motion to compel production in accordance with the request. At a hearing on the motion to compel, the hospital continued to assert its objection that the production request encompassed documents protected under various privileges. In support of its assertion, the hospital tendered three documents to the trial court for in camera inspection. The hospital provided no specific information regarding the content or nature of documents being withheld. At the close of the hearing, the trial court took the matter under advisement, subsequently granting plaintiffs’ motion to compel, and ordering production of the requested materials.

Thereafter, the hospital partially complied with the request but continued to assert that certain portions of the request were improper. On April 19, 1989, plaintiffs filed a motion for a rule to show cause. The hospital, in turn, filed a motion to reconsider the prior order. Following a hearing on these motions, the trial court issued the contempt order against the hospital and its attorney, Faulkner.

On appeal, contemnors take issue with 10 paragraphs in plaintiffs’ request to produce. The contempt order was additionally premised on noncompliance with several other paragraphs which contemnors no longer dispute. The paragraphs which contemnors contend are improper are requests for:

“1. Any and all records regarding infection control at Community Hospital in December, 1985, including but not limited to hospital compliance with JCAH guidelines and standards. These records should include but not be limited to records regarding the operating room, hospital personnel, equipment and suture materials;
* * *
4. Records of any and all cases of staph aureus infection or contamination at Community Hospital;
5. A list of privileges for Drs. Guynn, Temple and Cladis including a list of privileges and the applications for privileges for the years 1980-1985;
* * *
9. Any written guidelines of the Infection Control Committee and the names of all members of the Infection Control Committee for the years 1980-1985;
* * *
12. Any and all investigation reports or other written materials regarding the efforts made to retrospectively verify the sterility of the operating room appliances, instruments and equipment during the surgery of Doris Ekstrom;
13. Any and all statements or interview summaries of people employed by the hospital or doctors obtained in connection with the retrospective investigation of the biopsy surgery of Doris Ekstrom;
* * *
15. Records regarding any and all breast biopsy procedures performed by Dr. Guynn at Community Hospital from 1980 to December, 1985 in which Dr. Temple assisted;
* * *
17. Any and all infection control records from October, 1985, November, 1985, December, 1985 and January 1986.
* * *
20. Any and all documents disclosing why the penrose drain was opened and not used during Mrs. Ekstrom’s bilateral breast procedures.
* * *
23. Any and all documents regarding the December 6, 1985, D & C procedure performed by Dr. Temple, including but not limited to records revealing time of operation, whether or not there was any subsequent infection, identification of the operating room, other personnel involved, etc.”

With respect to paragraph No. 15, the trial court ordered that patients’ names be deleted from the records produced.

Contemnors maintain that each request violates one or more of the following: (1) the privilege established under section 8 — 2101 et seq. of the Code of Civil Procedure (Medical Studies Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 8 — 2101 et seq.); (2) the physician-patient privilege (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 110, par. 8 — 802); and (3) the attorney-client privilege and work product doctrine (107 Ill. 2d R. 201(b)(2)) and the corollary principle protecting communications of an insured to an insurer with an obligation to defend.

We first consider contemnors’ objections based on the Medical Studies Act. That enactment provides, in pertinent part:

“§8 — 2101. Information obtained. All information, interviews, reports, statements, memoranda or other data of *** allied medical societies, *** or committees of licensed or accredited hospitals or their medical staffs, including Patient Care Audit Committees, Medical Care Evaluation Committees, Utilization Review Committees, Credential Committees and Executive Committees, (but not the medical records pertaining to the patient), used in the course of internal quality control or of medical study for the purpose of reducing morbidity or mortality, or for improving patient care, shall be privileged, strictly confidential and shall be used only for medical research, the evaluation and improvement of quality of care, or granting, limiting or revoking staff privileges, except that in any hospital proceeding to decide upon a physician’s staff privileges, or in any judicial review thereof, the claim of confidentiality shall not be invoked to deny such physician access to or use of data upon which such a decision was based.
§8 — 2102. Admissibility as evidence. Such information, records, reports, statements, notes, memoranda, or other data, shall not be admissible as evidence, nor discoverable in any action of any kind in any court or before any tribunal, board, agency or person.

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Bluebook (online)
553 N.E.2d 424, 197 Ill. App. 3d 120, 142 Ill. Dec. 910, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ekstrom-v-temple-illappct-1990.