Hill v. Sandhu

129 F.R.D. 548, 30 Fed. R. Serv. 254, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4128, 1990 WL 14268
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJanuary 24, 1990
DocketNo. 89-1338-C
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 129 F.R.D. 548 (Hill v. Sandhu) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hill v. Sandhu, 129 F.R.D. 548, 30 Fed. R. Serv. 254, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4128, 1990 WL 14268 (D. Kan. 1990).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

JOHN B. WOOLEY, United States Magistrate.

The issue before the court is whether the Kansas Health Care and Peer Review statute, Kan.Stat.Ann. § 65-4915 et seq., protects, as privileged, documents and information, submitted to a hospital by a physician for the determination of staff privileges. For the reasons hereafter stated, the court finds that it does not.

On September 11, 1989, plaintiff propounded her First Set of Interrogatories and First Request for Production to the defendant Coffeyville Regional Medical Center. At issue is Request for Production No. 10 which seeks:

Any and all documents concerning staff privileges granted to defendant Sandhu, including his first application to defendant institution, any renewals and reappointments, any DEA and DPS controlled substance regulation forms, medical privileges applied for, physician’s permits and letters of reference, and any information supplied by defendant Sandhu to defendant institution in connection with said application.

The defendant Medical Center objected to request No. 10, and the present Motion to Compel (Dkt. # 36, filed November 16, 1989) ensued. The issue is fully briefed. See Dkt. Nos. 37, 40 and 48.

The instant cause is a medical malpractice action based on state law. Federal jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship and amount in issue. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Therefore, Kansas law defines the contours of privilege. Fed.R.Evid. 501. The pertinent part of Kan.Stat.Ann. § 65-4915 (Supp.1988) provides that:

(4) “Peer review office or committee” means an individual employed, designated or appointed by, or a committee of or employed, designated or appointed by, a health care provider group and authorized to perform peer review.
(b) Except as provided by Kan.Stat.Ann. § 60-437 [which concerns the waiver of privilege] and amendments thereto and [549]*549by subsections (c) and (d) [which pertains to the commissioner of insurance, the state board of healing arts and other health care provider licensing or disciplinary boards], the reports, statements, memoranda, proceedings, findings and other records of peer review committees or officers shall be privileged and shall not be subject to discovery, subpoena or other means of legal compulsion for their release to any person or entity or be admissible in evidence in any judicial or administrative proceeding. Information contained in such records shall not be discoverable or admissible at trial in the form of testimony by an individual who participated in the peer review process. This privilege may be claimed by the legal entity creating the peer review committee or officer, or by the commissioner of insurance for any records or proceedings of the board of governors, (c) Subsection (b) shall not apply to proceedings in which a health care provider contests the revocation, denial, restriction or termination of staff privileges or the license, registration, certification or other authorization to practice of the health care provider.

Peer review as defined by Kan.Stat.Ann. § 65-4915(3) means any of the following functions:

(A) Evaluate and improve the quality of health care services rendered by health care providers;
(B) determine that health services rendered were professionally indicated or were performed in compliance with the applicable standard of care;
(C) determine that the cost of health care rendered was considered reasonable by the providers of professional health services in this area;
(D) evaluate the qualifications, competence and performance of the providers of health care or to act upon matters relating to the discipline of any individual provider of health care;
(E) reduce morbidity or mortality;
(F) establish and enforce guidelines designed to keep within reasonable bounds the cost of health care;
(G) conduct of research;
(H) determine if a hospital’s facilities are being properly utilized;
(I) supervise, discipline, admit, determine privileges or control members of a hospital’s medical staff;
(J) review the professional qualifications or activities of health care providers;
(K) evaluate the quantity, quality and timeliness of health care services rendered to patients in the facility;
(L) evaluate, review or improve methods, procedures or treatments being utilized by the medical care facility or by health care providers in a facility rendering health care.

Thus, peer review has a broad, if not all-encompassing, definition.

On July 1, 1984, the Kansas Legislature amended Kan.Stat.Ann. § 65-4915 et seq. to create a peer review privilege and, thereby declared the deliberations of a peer review committee to be non-discoverable and inadmissible in evidence. The creation of the peer review privilege was a response to the Kansas Supreme Court decision in Wesley Medical Center v. Clark, 234 Kan. 13, 669 P.2d 209 (1983). In Clark, the court held that there was no independent privilege to protect hospital peer review committee records outside of the physician-patient privilege. In legislation similar to the peer review statute, the Kansas Legislature has subsequently created a privilege to protect discovery of risk management programs. Kan.Stat.Ann. § 65-4925 (Supp.1988).

Initially, plaintiff argues that the peer review privilege statute is substantive in nature and therefore should not be applied retrospectively. Therefore plaintiff argues, all responsive documents which were in existence prior to July 1, 1984 are discoverable and should be produced.

Although the peer review statute has both procedural and substantive aspects, it does not impair the substantive law of the underlying action (the alleged negligent awarding of staff privileges). Being procedural in this aspect, it does not seem illogical that it should be invoked, if applicable, to protect documents created prior to the [550]*550effective date of the statute. Samuelson v. Susen, 576 F.2d 546, 552 (3rd Cir.1978); Fretz v. Keltner, 109 F.R.D. 303, 309 (D.Kan.1985).

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Bluebook (online)
129 F.R.D. 548, 30 Fed. R. Serv. 254, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4128, 1990 WL 14268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-sandhu-ksd-1990.