Verska v. Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center, 151 Idaho 889

Summary

The Idaho Supreme Court affirmed an order protecting peer review records from discovery in a physician’s lawsuit against a hospital concerning the denial of renewed medical staff privileges. The court held that Idaho Code section 39-1392b applies by its terms to actions beyond medical malpractice claims and rejected the argument that courts may revise an unambiguous statute based on allegedly absurd results. It also held that the physician’s lawsuit waived his own ability to assert the privilege for purposes of the litigation, while defendants could elect to use protected information in their defense under section 39-1392e(f).

Holdings

1. Idaho Code section 39-1392b applies by its terms to all peer review records in this litigation, including records sought in a physician's lawsuit alleging that a hospital used peer review proceedings in bad faith or for anticompetitive purposes.
2. The court lacks authority to revise or disregard an unambiguous statute on the ground that applying it as written would produce a palpably absurd result.
3. When a physician who was the subject of peer review brings suit based on the health care organization's activity, the physician waives the right to assert the peer review privilege in that litigation; the defendant health care organization and its staff or committee members may elect to waive the privilege to use protected information in defense, but the waiver is limited to the litigation of that claim.
4. The court would not address the scope of Idaho Code section 39-1392c because the district court had not ruled on that issue.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Idaho Code section 39-1392b applies to peer review records sought in a lawsuit alleging that a hospital acted in bad faith by refusing to renew a physician's privileges.
2. Whether a court may modify or disregard an unambiguous statute when applying it as written allegedly produces a palpably absurd result.
3. Whether Idaho Code section 39-1392e(f) waives defendants' peer review privilege in its entirety when the investigated physician brings suit.
4. Whether the Supreme Court could address the scope of Idaho Code section 39-1392c when the district court had not ruled on that issue.

Disposition

affirmed