Jackson v. United States – Sept. 2015 (Summary)

PEER REVIEW

Jackson v. United States, Case No.: 3:14-cv-15086 (S.D. W. Va. Sept. 8, 2015)

The United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia denied a patient’s request for production of certain documents for use in a medical negligence action that the hospital claimed were protected from discovery by the State Peer Review Statute. The patient claimed that a medical center improperly withheld documents that were not generated as part of a peer review process. Instead, claiming that since the documents were prepared in the ordinary course of business, they were discoverable.

Following an “in camera” review of the documents at issue, the court disagreed. The court ruled that the documents were clearly prepared as part of the hospital’s peer review process. The court also disagreed with the patient’s claim that the hospital had waived the peer review privilege when its employees met and discussed the patient’s treatment outside of the formal peer review process.