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Alcon v. Spicer6/6/2005
that although the records may have some relevance to the plaintiff's general mental condition and possible alternate causes of mental distress, "relevance alone cannot be the test." Hoffman 87 P.3d at 864; Johnson, 977 P.2d at 157. Because the records sought were unrelated to treatment of mental health issues arising out of the injuries claimed in the plaintiffs' suits, we held that the privilege had not been waived, and consequently the records could not be disclosed.
We applied similar reasoning to the disclosure of general physical health records in Weil. 109 P.3d at 131. After sustaining injuries from slipping and falling in the defendant's store, the plaintiff, Dr. Jerry Weil, sued the store owner, Dillon Companies, to recover for essentially the same categories of damages as Alcon is presently seeking. The trial court ordered Weil to authorize blanket releases of all his medical records from certain healthcare providers. We determined that this order was overbroad because it encompassed medical records unrelated to the injuries and damages claimed by Weil. As in Hoffman and Johnson, we concluded that Weil's "`bare allegations of mental anguish, emotional distress, pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life' asserted in his complaint do not rise to the level of injecting his prior mental and physical conditions into the case to the extent that he completely waives the physician-patient privilege." Id. at 131.
We acknowledged that, by making these claims for injury, "Weil impliedly made a limited release of medical records relating to the cause and extent of the injuries and damages sustained as a result of the defendant's claimed negligence." Id. (emphasis added). This waiver, however, did not "amount to a complete release of his prior medical history." Id. Dillon alleged that access to the complete records would "'assure full discovery' as to the cause of the claimed injuries as well as determine the extent that an injury from the slip and fall incident is related to some pre-existing condition." Id. at 130. Again as in Hoffman and Johnson, we rejected this argument, noting that "relevance alone cannot be the test." Id. at 131. We directed the defendant to narrow its request and the trial court to narrow its order to medical records pertaining to "the cause and extent of the injuries and damages claimed." Id.
The discovery dispute presented in the present case is nearly identical to the one we encountered in Weil. Like Weil, Alcon has claimed damages for medical expenses, loss of enjoyment of life, pain and suffering, inconvenience and past and future economic losses. Like Weil, Alcon admits that she has waived the physician-patient privilege with respect to the injuries claimed in her lawsuit, and she has accordingly turned over all the medical records relating to the treatment of those injuries. Like Weil, Alcon is not seeking compensation for the treatment described in the records sought by the defendant. Finally, similar to the trial court in Weil, the trial court here has ordered Alcon to execute a blanket release authorizing disclosure of her prior medical history "without first determining the extent that the records requested were related to [the plaintiff's] injuries and damages claimed." Id.
The above review of our precedent confirms that this order was error. Contrary to the trial court's conclusion, Alcon has not injected her physical condition into the case such that she waived the physician-patient privilege for all of Dr. Aschenbrenner's records and the past ten years of pharmaceutical records. Rather, Alcon has waived the privilege for those records that relate to the cause and extent of the injuries and damages she claims. Specifically, Alcon
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