Cornu-Labat v. Hosp. Dist. No. 2 Grant Cnty. (Summary)

PEER REVIEW RECORDS DISCLOSURE

Cornu-Labat v. Hosp. Dist. No. 2 Grant Cnty., No. 86842-5 (Wash. Apr. 11, 2013)

The Supreme Court of Washington affirmed in part and remanded in part a lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a physician after the physician filed a lawsuit under the state Public Records Act.  The physician was seeking the disclosure of records from investigations performed by a public hospital district that followed complaints regarding his competency to practice medicine.

The lower court held that records of a peer review committee that contained non-physicians could not qualify for a non-disclosure records exemption and that the exemption for quality improvement committees did not apply to this case.

The supreme court held that the lower court’s finding that committees containing non-physicians was in error, since state law indicates that non-physicians such as officers, directors or employees acting within the scope of their employment can be part of a peer review committee. The court stated that not allowing these individuals to be part of a committee would frustrate the legislative intent of the law.  There was still an issue of fact as to whether the committee put together by the hospital was a regularly constituted committee or an ad hoc investigative team, and this issue was remanded to the lower court.

The supreme court also held that the written records of committee meetings were also protected, but that this only applied to formal meetings and proceedings, not casual discussions.