Schlegel v. Kaiser Found. Health Plan (Summary)

PEER REVIEW PRIVILEGE

Schlegel v. Kaiser Found. Health Plan, No. CIV 07-0520 MCE KJM (E.D. Cal. Oct. 14, 2008)

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California granted a plaintiff’s motion to compel the defendant, Kaiser Foundation, to produce certain documents that evaluated Kaiser’s kidney transplant center. The court began by noting that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA") preempted state law and that the California peer review privilege thus did not apply. The court then declined to recognize a federal peer review privilege or a federal privilege for "self critical analysis." Specifically, the court rejected Kaiser’s argument that the documents in question were protected from disclosure by the privilege created by the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, noting that the documents were not prepared for or reported to a "Patient Safety Organization," as defined by the Act.