Estate of Ray v. Forgy — Feb. 2016 (Summary)

PEER REVIEW PRIVILEGE

Estate of Ray v. Forgy
No. COA15-236 (N.C. Ct. App. Feb. 16, 2016)

The Court of Appeals of North Carolina reversed an order from the trial court that ordered a hospital to produce documents in a medical malpractice suit. The family of the patient sought documents regarding the physician’s malpractice insurance coverage history and the physician’s recredentialing history, among other things.

On appeal, the hospital argued that all of the documents were protected from discovery by the state peer review statutes. The court agreed stating that the requested documents contained records and materials produced by the hospital’s medical review committees and were privileged. The court also reasoned that the medical review committees’ materials survived a merger between the original hospital, where the patient received care, and the health system that currently owns the hospital. The medical review committees were properly maintained by the new owner in accordance with the medical staff bylaws. Therefore, the medical review committees met the requirements of the peer review statute and the documents in question were privileged.