Marshall v. Spectrum Medical Group

Marshall v. Spectrum Medical Group,
No. Civ. 00-155-B-C (D. Me. Dec. 8, 2000)

A physician brought several claims against his group practice for inappropriately
terminating his employment. The physician claimed that his employer abused the
credentialing process by using it to cast doubt on his mental and emotional
stability and therefore impairing his ability to practice in the community.
In order to support his allegations, the physician sought to discover his credentials
file from the hospital. The hospital objected to the physician’s discovery request,
claiming the file was confidential and privileged under two state statutes as
well as the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1996 (“HCQIA”).
The District Court of Maine rejected the hospital’s argument that the file was
protected under the HCQIA, holding that the HCQIA protects only information
that is reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank, and not all of the
information collected in a peer review investigation. The court also rejected
the hospital’s arguments that the physician’s credentials file was protected
by the state peer review privilege based on the fact that the claims involved
an abuse of the peer review process, and not a malpractice claim, and that the
physician had already gained access to much of the information in his file.
The court ordered that the information in the physician’s credentials file be
disclosed under narrowly tailored conditions.