In the case, Kimberly Powell v. Community Health Systems, Inc. et al, the plaintiff, a former hospital employee, filed a lawsuit against CHS and an orthopedic surgeon on the hospital’s medical staff. During discovery, the former employee sought to depose the hospital’s infection control director regarding the details of an investigation into postoperative nosocomial infections and her knowledge of whether the defendant surgeon had tested positive for infectious diseases. The plaintiff wanted to be able to discover the information, but the defendant hospital wanted to keep the information confidential.
“The substantive issue decided by the Tennessee Supreme Court was whether or not peer review proceedings performed by a quality committee were privileged, confidential and not discoverable,” Dr. Pliura says.
“The main point to take away from this case is as follows: If you want to maintain the confidentiality of an internal investigation performed by a hospital or surgery center, then be sure to have the investigation performed formally by, or at the request of, a peer review committee,” he says. “If you stray away from a formal peer review committee, you risk losing the confidentiality provisions generally available in most state peer review laws.”
While the ruling only directly applies to Tennessee cases and is consistent with many other state and federal opinions on the matter, other state and federal courts often look to, and base their opinions upon, other state Supreme Court opinions, Dr. Pliura says.
View the ruling in the case of Kimberly Powell v. Community Health Systems (pdf).
