Disability Rights North Carolina v. Frye Reg’l Med. Ctr. (Summary)

PEER REVIEW PRIVILEGE

Disability Rights North Carolina v. Frye Reg’l Med. Ctr., No. 5:13-CV-102 (W.D. N.C. Nov. 7, 2014)

The United States District Court of the Western District of North Carolina denied a hospital’s assertion of the peer review privilege on documents requested by a federal protection and advocacy agency (the “P&A”). The request involved documents related to a patient who died after an altercation with hospital staff that resulted in the individual being placed in restraints. The P&A initiated an investigation of the patient’s death for abuse or neglect. After the P&A requested the hospital’s root cause analyses and peer review documents, the hospital asserted that those records were protected by the state peer review statute.

The court denied the hospital’s peer review privilege assertion, holding that the statute did not apply to this circumstance. The court explained that the peer review privilege only applied in discovery or introduction of evidence in civil actions. The P&A’s request was pursuant to an investigation of the death of a patient with mental illness, not a civil lawsuit. Additionally, the state peer review statute is preempted by the federal Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act (“PAIMI”), which explicitly states that state laws limiting access for PAIMI proposes are prohibited.