STATE EX REL. KIRKSVILLE MISSOURI HOSP. CO. v. Jaynes

328 S.W.3d 418
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 9, 2010
DocketWD 72684
StatusPublished

This text of 328 S.W.3d 418 (STATE EX REL. KIRKSVILLE MISSOURI HOSP. CO. v. Jaynes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
STATE EX REL. KIRKSVILLE MISSOURI HOSP. CO. v. Jaynes, 328 S.W.3d 418 (Mo. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

328 S.W.3d 418 (2010)

STATE ex rel. KIRKSVILLE MISSOURI HOSPITAL COMPANY LLC d/b/a Northeast Regional Medical Center, Relator,
v.
Honorable Ralph H. JAYNES, Visiting Judge, Circuit Court of Boone County, MO, Respondent.

No. WD 72684.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

November 9, 2010.
Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court Denied December 21, 2010.
Application for Transfer Denied January 25, 2011.

*420 Philip R. Dupont and Albert S. Laferte, Kansas City, MO, for relator.

Leland F. Dempsey and Ashley L. Baird, Kansas City, MO, for respondent.

Before Writ Division: JAMES E. WELSH, Presiding Judge, MARK D. PFEIFFER, Judge and CYNTHIA L. MARTIN, Judge.

CYNTHIA L. MARTIN, Judge.

This is an original proceeding in prohibition. Relator Kirksville, Missouri, Hospital Company, LLC, d/b/a Northeast Regional Medical Center ("NERMC") seeks to prohibit the respondent, the Honorable Ralph H. Jaynes, visiting judge in the Circuit Court of Boone County, Missouri, from allowing plaintiffs, Francis and Janie Watson ("Watsons") to discover documents relating to the credentialing of Dr. John Bailey ("Dr. Bailey") in an underlying medical malpractice and negligent credentialing action. Forty pages of documents were ordered produced, following in camera review. NERMC claims all of these documents are protected from discovery by section 537.035.4,[1] the peer review statute.

Our preliminary writ of prohibition is dissolved.

Factual Background

Dr. Bailey submitted an application for surgical privileges in back surgery to NERMC in mid-1997. Temporary privileges were afforded Dr. Bailey. At or near the same time, a question arose about whether Dr. Bailey had successfully completed training with the Columbia Spine Fellowship. NERMC's Director of Surgery expressed a concern that Dr. Bailey had been granted temporary privileges before this issue had been resolved. He proposed submitting Dr. Bailey's first twenty-five spinal instrumentation cases to an independent, fellowship trained, spine surgeon for review.

NERMC's Executive Committee approved this recommendation and retained Dr. John Flood, an independent spine surgeon practicing in Michigan, for this purpose. Dr. Flood reviewed twenty cases involving spine surgeries performed by Dr. Bailey. Dr. Flood prepared a written report, which he submitted to NERMC. NERMC contends the report was sought as a part of considering whether to afford Dr. Bailey permanent privileges.

The Watsons filed a lawsuit against Dr. Bailey and NERMC in 2004 claiming Dr. Bailey negligently treated and performed surgery on Mr. Watson. The Watsons further claim that NERMC was negligent in granting Dr. Bailey staff privileges to perform spine surgeries. The Watsons learned of Dr. Flood's report and took Dr. Flood's deposition on April 29, 2008.[2] Numerous objections were asserted by NERMC in reliance on the peer review privilege described in section 537.035. The Watsons filed a motion for enforcement of discovery relating to the objections, which was thereafter granted in part and denied in part. Dr. Flood's second deposition was conducted on September 18, 2009, with a Special Discovery Master, John Hutcherson, in attendance.

Before Dr. Flood's second deposition, the Watsons filed a motion for enforcement of discovery or in the alternative, an in-camera review, relating to specific *421 documents alleged to involve Dr. Flood's report and identified on a privilege log prepared by NERMC. Specifically, the Watsons sought production of documents bearing Bates Numbers NERMC/PR 000001 through 0000066 which the Watsons alleged involved Dr. Flood's recommendations to NERMC concerning Dr. Bailey's credentialing and his knowledge and ability to perform complicated spine surgery.

The motion to enforce discovery was considered by the Special Discovery Master. The Special Discovery Master entered a report on January 15, 2010. The report indicated that the documents Bates Numbered NERMC/PR 000001 through 000007, 0000016 through 0000019, and 0000057 had already been produced by agreement. The report indicated that the Special Discovery Master had reviewed the remaining documents in camera. The Special Discovery Master granted the motion to enforce discovery for the documents Bates Numbered 000008 through 000015, 000020 through 000043, and 000058 through 000065. The Special Discovery Master advised that the documents ordered produced should be redacted to remove any patient identifying information protected by HIPPA.

The Special Discovery Master specifically found that the documents ordered produced were not protected as peer review pursuant to section 537.035.4, although the report did not provide an explanation for this conclusion.

At our request, the forty pages of documents ordered produced, and thus at issue in this proceeding, were delivered by NERMC for our in camera review on October 12, 2010. The contested documents fall into three categories: (1) Dr. Flood's report generated following review of several of Dr. Bailey's patient files; (2) Dr. Bailey's response to Dr. Flood's report; and (3) minutes from Executive Committee Peer Review meetings discussing Dr. Flood's report.[3]

Analysis

Section 537.035.4 provides:

Except as otherwise provided in this section, the interviews, memoranda, proceedings, findings, deliberations, reports, and minutes of peer review committees, or the existence of the same, concerning the health care provided any patient are 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 into evidence in any judicial or administrative action for failure to provide appropriate care. Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person who was in attendance at any peer review committee proceeding shall be permitted or required to disclose any information acquired in connection with or in the course of such proceeding, or to disclose any opinion, recommendation, or evaluation of the committee or board, or any member thereof; provided, however, that information otherwise discoverable or admissible from original sources is not to be construed as immune from discovery or use in any proceeding merely because it was presented during proceedings before a peer review committee nor is a member, employee, or agent or such committee, or other person appearing before it, to be prevented from testifying as to matters within his personal knowledge *422 and in accordance with the other provisions of this section, but such witness cannot be questioned about testimony or other proceedings before any health care review committee or board or about opinions formed as a result of such committee hearings. The disclosure of any interview, memoranda, proceedings, findings, deliberations, reports, or minutes to any person or entity, including but not limited to governmental agencies, professional accrediting agencies, or other health care providers, whether proper or improper, shall not waive or have any effect upon its confidentiality, nondiscoverability, or nonadmissibility.

(Emphasis added.) NERMC argues that the documents ordered produced involve a credentials committee's investigations,[4] minutes, reports, and deliberations about Dr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

LeBlanc v. Research Belton Hospital
278 S.W.3d 201 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2008)
State Ex Rel. Morasch v. Kimberlin
654 S.W.2d 889 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1983)
State Ex Rel. Wilfong v. SCHAEPER-KOETTER
933 S.W.2d 407 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1996)
State Ex Rel. Richardson v. Randall
660 S.W.2d 699 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1983)
State Ex Rel. Tennill v. Roper
965 S.W.2d 945 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1998)
Trinity Medical Center, Inc. v. Holum
544 N.W.2d 148 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1996)
State Ex Rel. Vanderpool Feed & Supply Co. v. Sloan
628 S.W.2d 414 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1982)
Jepson v. Stubbs
555 S.W.2d 307 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1977)
Butler v. Mitchell-Hugeback, Inc.
895 S.W.2d 15 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1995)
State Ex Rel. Faith Hospital v. Enright
706 S.W.2d 852 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1986)
State ex rel. Kirksville Missouri Hospital Co. v. Jaynes
328 S.W.3d 418 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2010)
Hill v. Sandhu
129 F.R.D. 548 (D. Kansas, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
328 S.W.3d 418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-kirksville-missouri-hosp-co-v-jaynes-moctapp-2010.