Opinion ID: 2402231
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Discovery From Original Sources

Text: Both the hospital and Dr. Samson assert that the statutes creating the peer-review privilege require a plaintiff to obtain access to information that was gathered by a peer-review board from original sources directly from those original sources rather than from the peer-review board. One of the limitations on the scope of the peer-review privilege contained in § 23-17-25(a) is that [d]ocuments or records otherwise available from original sources are not to be construed as immune from discovery or used in any civil proceedings merely because they were presented during the proceedings of the committee. Similarly, § 5-37.3-7(c) provides: Confidential health care information discoverable or admissible from original sources shall not be construed as immune from discovery or use in any proceeding merely because that information was presented during proceedings before [the peer-review board]. We disagree with the hospital's and Dr. Samson's reading of these provisions. The clear language of the statutes renders information gathered from original sources not privileged, and therefore discoverable and admissible. Those provisions erect an outer limit on the peer-review privilege, and, in doing so, prevent the privilege from functioning as a shield. Cofone, 504 A.2d at 1000. In turn, nothing in the applicable statutory provisions or our caselaw can be read to require a plaintiff to obtain access to information considered by the peer-review board from the original source that produces that information. Put more simply, the original source language is a limitation on the scope of the privilege afforded a health-care provider, rather than a definition of plaintiff's exclusive avenue of discovery. To oblige a plaintiff to track down the original source of unprivileged information that is within the custody of a party to the dispute would be to require burdensome labor for no good reason. We hold that § 23-17-25(a) and § 5-37.3-7(c) do not require a plaintiff to obtain access to information from its original source. 4