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Huether v. District Court of the Sixteenth Judicial District of the State of Montana6/20/2000
ORIGINAL PROCEEDING
Heard and Submitted: September 9, 1999
On March 25, 1999, this Court accepted jurisdiction of this application for writ of supervisory control over the Sixteenth Judicial District Court, Custer County. We invited briefs by amicus curiae and classified the case for oral argument. We now vacate the District Court's determination that documents sought to be discovered by the petitioner, the Estate of George Huether, Jr., are not discoverable under the hospital peer review statutes codified at Title 50, Chapter 16, part 2, MCA, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.
The issue is whether the District Court erred in denying the Estate's discovery request pursuant to Title 50, Chapter 16, part 2, MCA, and this Court's opinion in Sistok v. Kalispell Regional Hosp. (1991), 251 Mont. 38, 823 P.2d 251.
In June 1992, seventy-eight year old George Huether, Jr., underwent surgery for colon cancer at Holy Rosary Hospital in Miles City, Montana. An hour after being returned to the surgical floor from the recovery room, Huether stopped breathing. Although he was successfully resuscitated, he suffered severe brain damage and died when he was taken off life support a few days later.
Huether's son, as the personal representative of his estate, filed a wrongful death action against the Hospital, asserting that the Hospital staff did not monitor Huether closely enough following his surgery. As part of discovery, the Estate asked the Hospital to produce "any incident reports or similar reports prepared with regard to any aspect of the care and treatment of George Huether, Jr., while a patient at Holy Rosary Hospital." Specifically, the Estate was interested in any documents indicating that Huether's vital signs were being recorded at least every fifteen minutes by an automatic monitor called a "Critikon."
The Hospital objected to the discovery request on grounds that any such documents would not be subject to discovery under ยงยง 50-16-201 through -205, MCA, which provide for confidentiality of information and proceedings of in-hospital medical staff committees, also known as peer review committees. The Estate moved to compel production in compliance with its request. The District Court denied the motion to compel, reasoning that the privilege for data of hospital peer review committees, as set forth in the above statutes and interpreted in this Court's Sistok opinion, is absolute.
The Estate filed an application for this Court's supervisory control. At the Court's invitation, five amicus curiae briefs were submitted prior to the oral argument.
Discussion
Did the District Court err in denying the Estate's discovery request pursuant to Title 50, Chapter 16, part 2, MCA, and this Court's opinion in Sistok v. Kalispell Regional Hosp. (1991), 251 Mont. 38, 823 P.2d 251?
The Estate argues that the District Court's order denying the motion to compel gives unconstitutional application to Title 50, Chapter 16, part 2, MCA. It asks this Court to clarify whether Sistok stands for the rule that an absolute privilege surrounds medical staff committees, and, if so, to expressly overrule Sistok or to declare that Title 50, Chapter 16, part 2, MCA, violates the right of access to the courts as set forth at Article II, Section 16 of the Montana Constitution.
Montana's hospital peer review statutes are typical of the statutes adopted by various states to encourage candor in hospital staff committees which review and evaluate the quality of medical care provided in their hospitals. The goal is to promote continuous improvement in the quality of health c
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