Sotack v. Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital

36 Pa. D. & C.4th 155, 1997 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 80
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Monroe County
DecidedFebruary 10, 1997
Docketno. 2842 Civil 1994
StatusPublished

This text of 36 Pa. D. & C.4th 155 (Sotack v. Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Monroe County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sotack v. Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital, 36 Pa. D. & C.4th 155, 1997 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 80 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1997).

Opinion

O’BRIEN, J.,

The plaintiff, Danica L. Sotack, individually and as administratrix of the estate of Jess U. Sotack, deceased, instituted this action against defendants, Gnaden Huetten Memorial Hospital, Athanasiou Houides M.D. and Peter Tey M.D., by complaint filed November 2,1994 seeking damages predicated on alleged medical negligence of the defendants in diagnosing and treating the decedent. Timely answers were filed by all defendants, and depositions have been taken of both individual defendants and the chief executive of the defendant hospital. Although extensive discovery has been accomplished by the parties and their counsel, presently before the court is a discovery dispute affecting both the defendant hospital and another health care facility which is not a party to this proceeding.

On August 14, 1996, plaintiff forwarded a subpoena by a records copy service to Lehigh Valley Hospital seeking any and all documents relating to the employment and/or granting of staff privileges to defendant Houides. Plaintiff served LVH because Dr. Houides testified in his deposition on July 26, 1995 that he was previously on the active staff of and had admitting privileges at what is now LVH. In response to the subpoena, by correspondence dated August 26,1996, LVH, through its director of claims/risk management and staff attorney, informed the records copy service that Dr. Houides was not an employee of LVH and, further, [157]*157any information or documents concerning his credentials and/or staff privileges as an independent practitioner on the medical staff of LVH are confidential and protected from discovery pursuant to the Pennsylvania Peer Review Protection Act, 63 PS. §425.1 et seq. On October 31, 1996, plaintiff filed a motion to compel compliance with the subpoena directed to LVH, and LVH filed a response asserting the protections of the Peer Review Protection Act.

The Pennsylvania Peer Review Protection Act provides in pertinent part as follows:

“Section 425.4. Confidentiality of review organization’s records
“The proceedings and records of a review committee shall be held in confidence and shall not be subject to discovery or introduction into evidence in any civil action against a professional health care provider arising out of the matters which are the subject of evaluation and review by such committee and no person who was in attendance at a meeting at such committee shall be permitted or required to testify in any such civil action as to any evidence or other matters produced or presented during the proceedings of such committee or as to any findings, recommendations, evaluations, opinions or other actions of such committee or any members thereof: Provided, however, that information, documents or records otherwise available from original sources are not to be construed as immune from discovery or use in any such civil action merely because they were presented during proceedings of such committee, nor should any person who testifies before such committee or who is a member of such committee be prevented from testifying as to matters within his knowledge, but the said witness cannot be asked about his testimony before such committee or opinions formed by him as a result of said committee hearings.”

[158]*158The Superior Court has held that through the foregoing confidentiality provision, “the legislature has sought to foster free and frank discussion by review organizations.” Sanderson v. Frank S. Bryan M.D. Ltd., 361 Pa. Super. 491, 496, 522 A.2d 1138, 1140 (1987), appeal denied, 517 Pa. 624, 538 A.2d 877 (1987), quoting Steel v. Weisberg, 347 Pa. Super. 106, 110, 500 A.2d 428, 430 (1985). It is noted that a litigant may not withhold material otherwise discoverable from an original source simply because that material was presented during peer review proceedings. Walmsley v. Pennsylvania Hospital, 32 Phila. 573 (1996).

Plaintiff’s motion to compel compliance with the subpoena directed to LVH concerns discovery of the following from non-party LVH regarding Dr. Houides: pre-employment investigations, credential committee records, performance evaluations, appraisals and recommendations, staff privileges, credentials and applications for appointment and reappointment, documents referring or relating to disciplinary action or termination and documents referring or relating in any manner to the employment of Dr. Houides. The instant action is not against LVH, rather, it is against GHMH, Dr. Houides and Dr. Tey. Additionally, plaintiff states in her brief, “this case is not an action against Lehigh Valley for any of its conduct,” rather, . . . “the competency, or incompetency, of Dr. Houides, a member of the hospital’s [GHMH] medical staff now and at the time Ms. Sotack’s decedent, Jess Sotack, was a patient at the hospital [GHMH], is clearly the issue in this case.” (Plaintiff’s brief at 6.) Plaintiff contends, however, that the credential records and employment history of Dr. Houides while on staff or while he had privileges at LVH is relevant to the knowledge of GHMH about the competency and skill of Dr. Houides.

[159]*159Plaintiff primarily relies upon Thompson v. Nason Hospital, 370 Pa. Super. 115, 535 A.2d 1177 (1988), affirmed, 527 Pa. 330, 591 A.2d 703 (1991) for support for her contention that the requested documents are discoverable from LVH. However, plaintiff’s reliance on Thompson is misplaced. The Thompson decision merely takes cognizance of the existence of a cause of action for hospital corporate negligence and establishes the applicable standard of care. Thompson is inapplicable in the instant case with respect to LVH because the plaintiff is not asserting a claim against LVH for corporate negligence or for any other theory of liability. The documents sought by the plaintiff from LVH are inapposite to the plaintiff’s cause of action against GHMH, Dr. Houides and Dr. Tey. We, therefore, deny the plaintiff’s motion to compel compliance with the subpoena dated August 1996.

The discovery dispute involving the hospital named as a defendant in this proceeding is couched in the form of plaintiff’s motion to strike the hospital’s objections to plaintiff’s second request for production of documents. The documents at issue fall within the following four categories: “(1) policy and procedural manuals governing the medical and nursing staffs at the GHMH;

“(2) documents relating to the applications of Doctors Tey and Houides for privileges at GHMH;
“(3) records kept by GHMH regarding or referring to Doctors Tey and Houides, and any clinical and competency reviews pertaining to them; and
“(4) records regarding the nature of the privileges granted to Doctors Tey and Houides and any changes in the scope of the doctors’ privileges.”

GHMH asserts that discovery of the information sought by the plaintiff is prohibited pursuant to the [160]*160PPRPA. The Superior Court in Sanderson v. Bryan, supra,

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Related

Steel v. Weisberg
500 A.2d 428 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1985)
Sanderson v. Frank S. Bryan, M.D., Ltd.
522 A.2d 1138 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1987)
Thompson v. Nason Hospital
591 A.2d 703 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)
Thompson v. Nason Hospital
535 A.2d 1177 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
36 Pa. D. & C.4th 155, 1997 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 80, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sotack-v-gnaden-huetten-memorial-hospital-pactcomplmonroe-1997.