Whitman v. United States

108 F.R.D. 5, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 763, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 234, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21346
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Hampshire
DecidedMarch 27, 1985
DocketNo. C82-542-L
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 108 F.R.D. 5 (Whitman v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Whitman v. United States, 108 F.R.D. 5, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 763, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 234, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21346 (D.N.H. 1985).

Opinion

ORDER ON APPEAL OF MAGISTRATE’S ORDER DENYING THE PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS

LOUGHLIN, District Judge.

This case comes before this court pursuant to the Federal Torts Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b), § 2671 et seq. Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges medical malpractice under the above act as a result of actions performed by Doctors Looser and Denker. These acts included the surgical removal of a swollen lymph node under Julie Whitman’s right ear. Their allegations claim the doctors were negligent in recommending surgery, failing to obtain informed consent, failing to disclose the extent of surgery, and expanding the scope of the operation beyond what the doctors told the parents. The plaintiffs also allege the doctors negligently performed the surgery. Plaintiffs claim the doctors negligently placed a suture around a nerve causing Julie Whitman’s facial paralysis.

During the course of discovery, plaintiffs were told by Dr. Denker that a peer review committee hearing took place at Pease Air Force Base Hospital, one or two months after the operation. Plaintiffs requested records of this review and defendants objected. On October 12, 1984 Magistrate Barry denied plaintiffs’ motion for production of documents without a hearing or without submission of a memorandum of law. Subsequently, the Magistrate denied a motion for rehearing. On November 16, 1984 this court extended the time for filing briefs and remanded the case for oral argument before the Magistrate. On January 14, 1985 the Magistrate denied plaintiffs’ motion relying on Bredice v. Doctor’s Hospital Inc., 50 F.R.D. 249 (D.D.C.1970); 51 F.R.D. 187 (1970). On January 17, 1985 the plaintiffs objected to the Magistrate’s order and appealed to this court under Fed. R.Civ.P. 72(a).

Under the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636 the court may designate a magistrate to hear and determine certain pretrial matters before the court and in particular certain discovery matters as are currently before the court. Reconsideration of a Magistrate’s order is specifically limited however. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A) reads:

... A judge of the court may reconsider any pretrial matter under this subparagraph (A) where it has been shown that the magistrate’s order is clearly erroneous or contrary to law.

Rockwell Intern. Inc. v. Pos-A-Traction Industries, 712 F.2d 1324 (9th Cir.1983); Pascale v. Searle, 90 F.R.D. 55 (D.R.I. 1981).

Rule 26(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allows for broad discovery stating: “Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action.” The Federal Rules do not define “privilege” but “the term is generally understood to refer to those evidentiary privileges applicable at trial”. Robinson v. Magovern, 83 F.R.D. 79, 84 (W.D.Pa. 1979) (citing United States v. Reynolds, 345 U.S. 1, 73 S.Ct. 528, 97 L.Ed. 727 (1953); Boyd v. Gullett, 64 F.R.D. 169 (D.Md.1974)). This action arises under a federal question and thus under Federal Rule of Evidence 501, federal law, will apply. Robinson, 83 F.R.D. at 85.

The magistrate’s decision to deny plaintiffs’ motion rests on Bredice v. Doctor’s Hospital which states:

[7]*7Confidentiality is essential to effective functioning of these staff meetings; and these meetings are essential to the continued improvement in the care and treatment of patients. Candid and conscientious evaluation of clinical practices is a sine qua non of adeqúate hospital care. To subject these discussions and deliberations to the discovery process, without a showing of exceptional necessity, would result in terminating such deliberations. Constructive professional criticism cannot occur in an atmosphere of apprehension that one doctor’s suggestion will be used as a denunciation of a colleague’s conduct in a malpractice suit.

The purpose of these staff meetings is the improvement, through self-analysis, of the efficiency of medical procedures and techniques. They are not a part of current patient care but are in the nature of a retrospective review of the effectiveness of certain medical procedures. The value of these discussions and reviews in the education of the doctors who participate, and the medical students who sit in, is undeniable. This value would be destroyed if the meetings and the names of those participating were to be opened to the discovery process.

50 F.R.D. at 250.

The Bredice decision was recently affirmed in Mewborn v. Heckler, 101 F.R.D. 691 (D.D.C.1984). In Mewborn, the court reiterated the principles laid out in Bredice. Furthermore the court said that the 1983 amendments to Rule 16 suggested even stronger reasons to follow Bredice. The amendments were designed “to curtail discovery abuse and to limit discovery to what is necessary to develop the facts which will support a litigant’s claim”. Mewborn, 101 F.R.D. at 693. Both the Bredice and Mew-born decisions emphasize that if the raw factual data is available from the hospital reports, there is no need to require disclosure of peer review findings. These findings will be compelled only where an “extraordinary necessity” is shown. Id.; Bredice, 50 F.R.D. at 250.

The Mewborn-Bredice line of cases illustrate that the federal law now recognizes a privilege protecting hospital peer review records from disclosure during discovery. However, federal law does not extend unlimited protection to information shielded by evidentiary privileges. The court in Robinson v. Magovern noted:

Evidentiary privileges operate to exclude relevant information from the fact finder and thus are not favored. The Supreme Court has stated: “Whatever their origins, these exceptions to the demand for every man’s evidence are not lightly created nor expansively construed for they are in derogation of the search for truth.” United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 710, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 3108, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039, 1065 (1974).

83 F.R.D. at 85.

It is well accepted that an evidentiary privilege may be waived by the actions or inactions of the party claiming the protections:

A privilege may be waived by allowing a deponent to review a document for the purposes of refreshing his recollection, by testifying in an examination before trial as to matters covered by the attorney-client privilege or by voluntarily surrendering reports to an opposing party or orally disclosing matters to that party at a pretrial conference.

10 Federal Procedure L.Ed. § 26:27 (1982).

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Bluebook (online)
108 F.R.D. 5, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 763, 18 Fed. R. Serv. 234, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21346, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whitman-v-united-states-nhd-1985.