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C.B. v. Sabalos6/13/2000
RELIEF GRANTED
Petitioners in these three consolidated special actions challenge the respondent judge's order compelling disclosure of redacted mental health records of certain non-party patients in the underlying medical malpractice action. The plaintiff in that action claims she was negligently diagnosed as suffering from multiple personality disorder and falsely led to believe that she had been a victim of satanic or ritual abuse. The defendants include psychiatrist Donald Garland and psychologist Sandra Mattson, who, along with the non-party patients, are the petitioners in these special actions. Because an appeal could not rectify any damage that may result from the compelled disclosure of the patients' records, Ulibarri v. Superior Court, 184 Ariz. 382, 909 P.2d 449 (App. 1995); Ziegler v. Superior Court, 134 Ariz. 390, 656 P.2d 1251 (App. 1982), and because we find the respondent judge abused his discretion in compelling the production of the mental health records, we accept jurisdiction and grant relief. See Ariz. R. Special Actions 1 and 3, 17B A.R.S.
Background
In March 1998, real party in interest Jane Roe filed a complaint against Garland, Mattson, Sonora Desert Hospital, Tucson Psychiatric Institute, and others, alleging she had been misdiagnosed and negligently treated. The treatment included hypnosis designed to facilitate her recovery of blocked memories and several periods of hospitalization. Roe contends that while hospitalized, she participated in group therapy sessions with other women who, like her, had been diagnosed as suffering from and were being treated for dissociative disorders. Roe served discovery requests on the defendants, seeking disclosure of "all patients treated by you for multiple personality disorder or dissociative disorder, stating (without revealing or identifying the names)" certain details about their treatment. After Garland and Mattson objected on grounds of relevance and privilege, Roe filed a motion to compel the defendants to produce the mental health records of the defendants' non-party patients who had been diagnosed and/or treated by the defendants for multiple personality disorder and/or satanic or ritual abuse. Roe's motion recognized that "precautions [should be] instituted to ensure that any records obtained this way are appropriately redacted to protect the non-party patients' identity." Mattson and Garland sought protective orders to prevent such disclosure. The respondent judge granted the motion to compel and ordered Garland to produce the following:
no more than 30 files of patients with satanic abuse or have suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder symptoms with appropriate redaction to conceal the identity of the patients within 10 days of this date. The plaintiff shall select no more than 5 former patients for potential deposition for Rule 404(b)[, Ariz. R. Evid., 17A A.R.S.,] witnesses. Within 10 days after any deposition of any Rule 404(b) witness, the plaintiff shall select 3 potential witnesses by filing other act evidence under Rule 404(b).
The defendants filed a motion for reconsideration, which the respondent denied. However, the respondent modified his previous order by entering a new one, which provided as follows:
IT IS THE ORDER OF THE COURT that Dr. Garland shall provide to the plaintiff no more than 30 patient files diagnosed with satanic abuse and/or suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder with appropriate redaction within 10 days, and Dr. Mattson shall provide within 10 days no more than 10 files of patients diagnosed or treated for satanic abuse and/or suffering Multiple Personality Disorder with appropriate redaction to conceal the identi
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