Justia Professional Malpractice & Ethics Opinion Summaries

At the center of this case was a permissive appeal from the district court's interlocutory entry of a protective order, which held certain documents related to the suspension of Appellant Paul J. Montalbano’s privileges at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center (SARMC) were not discoverable by Montalbano. The interlocutory order came from Dr. Montalbano’s lawsuit filed against SARMC in district court with ten causes of action including breach of fiduciary duties and defamation; this appeal dealt solely with the protective order. In 2009, Appellant filed suit and sought to discover an extensive list of documents "related to the processes, activities, and decisions that ultimately led to the suspension of his privileges." When SARMC asserted a peer review privilege, Appellant filed a motion to compel. SARMC then moved for a protective order. The court granted in part and denied in part the motion to compel. The district court concluded that the materials related to the peer review process were protected: "[t]here can be no discovery of the peer review records nor can any witness be questioned about any information provided to the peer review committees nor the interpretation nor analysis of any evidence submitted as part of this process." Appellant thereafter moved for leave to file a permissive appeal of the court’s interlocutory order. The Supreme Court granted the permissive appeal to review the applicability of I.C. 39-1392b in physician disciplinary proceedings because it posed a question of first impression. The Court found that the applicable peer review statute " cannot be reasonably construed to state that if a physician brings a lawsuit, the privilege is waived in order to permit the physician to use otherwise privileged records. … The physician cannot waive the right of the hospital or anyone else who is entitled to assert it." Accordingly, the Court affirmed the district court's ruling to deny Appellant discovery of the records. View "Montalbano v. St. Alphonsus Regional Med. Ctr. " on Justia Law

At issue before the Supreme Court was an order of the district court which held that the statute making peer review records privileged applied to a lawsuit brought by a doctor who claimed that a hospital acted in bad faith by refusing to renew a his attending privileges. After a series of reviews of Physician Petitioner Joseph Verska, M.D.'s (Physician) practice initiated in 2004 by St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center (Hospital) and again in 2006 and 2007, Physician requested a hearing before a Fair Hearing Panel in 2008. In 2009, Physician and the Spine Institute of Idaho (a professional corporation he created) sued the Hospital and two of its doctors (Defendants) alleging that Defendants conspired to wrongfully harm them, intentionally and/or negligently interfered with their economic advantage, interfered with Physician’s prospective contractual relations and business expectations, defamed them, and intentionally and/or negligently inflicted emotional distress upon Physician. In addition to damages, Plaintiffs sought an injunction requiring Hospital to restore Physician’s privileges. During this litigation, Plaintiffs initiated discovery related to the process, activities, and decisions that led to Hospital’s decision to deny Physician’s application to be reappointed to the medical staff and to have his privileges renewed. Hospital objected on the ground that such information was protected by the peer review privilege. Plaintiffs filed a motion seeking to compel discovery, and Defendants sought a motion for a protective order. The district court denied the motion to compel and granted the protective order. The Supreme Court found the peer review statute unambiguous: "the statute states that 'all peer review records shall be confidential and privileged'" not subject to subpoena or discovery proceedings or be admitted as evidence. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the district court's denial of Physician's motion to compel the records' discovery. View "Verska v. St. Alphonsus Regional Med. Ctr." on Justia Law

Plaintiff-Appellant Mary Soignier appealed a district court's decision that granted summary judgment to her former attorney, W. Kent Fletcher. On appeal to the Supreme Court, Plaintiff asserted that Attorney Fletcher negligently drafted a will that failed to "adequately effectuate the testator's intent." After reviewing the record and the applicable legal authority, the Supreme Court found that the district court correctly granted summary judgment to Mr. Fletcher. The Court affirmed the district court's judgment.