Baptist Healthcare System, Inc. d/b/a Baptist Health Paducah v. William Anthony Kitchen, Judge, McCracken Circuit Court; and Marietta Gelanie Jones v. William Anthony Kitchen, Judge, McCracken Circuit Court; and Baptist Healthcare System, Inc. d/b/a Baptist Health Paducah

Summary

The Supreme Court of Kentucky affirmed the Court of Appeals in a discovery dispute arising from Marietta Gelanie Jones's negligence action against Baptist Healthcare System, Inc. The court held that the federal patient safety work product privilege protected the entire Root Cause Analysis, including factual portions, but did not protect the Incident Report because it was created pursuant to an external regulatory obligation. The court also held that the Incident Report was not protected by Kentucky's peer review privilege and affirmed the denial and grant of writ relief in the respective parts.

Holdings

1. The federal patient-safety work-product privilege protects the entire Root Cause Analysis, including factual information contained within it, when the provider establishes that the document satisfies the statutory privilege requirements.
2. The Incident Report is not protected by the federal patient-safety work-product privilege because it was created and maintained to satisfy an external state regulatory obligation to track incidents, rather than as part of Baptist's patient-safety evaluation system.
3. Kentucky's peer-review privilege does not protect the Incident Report because the report is an immediate post-event description of factual circumstances, not a retrospective review and evaluation of healthcare personnel's professional conduct.
4. A writ of prohibition may be available to challenge a discovery order requiring disclosure of allegedly privileged information because disclosure cannot be undone and may create a substantial miscarriage of justice.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the federal Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act privilege protects the Root Cause Analysis in its entirety, including factual portions.
2. Whether the federal patient-safety work-product privilege protects the Incident Report.
3. Whether Kentucky's peer-review privilege protects the Incident Report.
4. Whether the Court of Appeals properly granted and denied writ relief concerning the circuit court's discovery orders.

Disposition

affirmed