Opinion ID: 1355978
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: denying dr. painter the report resulting from her mental and medical competency examination

Text: As discussed, the Board ordered that Dr. Painter submit to a mental and medical competency examination. The statute assumes the results of any examination are admissible as evidence in Board proceedings as § 33-26-403(b) provides: (b) Every licensee is deemed to have consented to submit to a board requested mental, physical, or medical competency examination and waived all objections to the admissibility of the results of the examination in board proceedings on the ground that the results constitute a privileged communication. The Board denied all of Dr. Painter's requests for copies of the examination report, claiming denial was authorized by § 33-26-408(c): (c) All board records except final orders are not subject to public disclosure or discovery and are not admissible in any nonboard proceeding except when necessary for further board action or upon judicial review of a board order. Statutes must be read as a whole and in conjunction with other statutes on the same subject matter. Parker Land and Cattle Company v. Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, 845 P.2d 1040, 1042 (Wyo.1993). When § 33-26-403(b) and § 33-26-408(c) are read together, it is clear that § 33-26-408(c) relates to confidentiality regarding third persons unrelated to the proceeding. The report is not confidential as between the proceeding's actual parties. To hold otherwise would allow the Board to unilaterally decide whether to disclose either inculpatory or exculpatory facts. That, of course, is not how the adversarial system of law works and cannot be what the statutes intend. The Board deprived Dr. Painter of due process by withholding the report. Basic notions of fairness and due process prohibit requiring an accused (civil or criminal) to be evaluated or examined and then using the results in the prosecution without affording the accused the right to have the results to prepare a response. See Mishler v. State Board of Medical Examiners, 109 Nev. 287, 849 P.2d 291, 297 (1993) (a board abuses its power when it uses its own rules of confidentiality as an excuse to obstruct a doctor's access to evidence); Christiansen v. Missouri State Board of Accountancy, 764 S.W.2d 943, 952 (Mo.Ct.App.1988) (denying licensee the right to material pertaining to a disciplinary proceeding is contrary to concept of fairness and tantamount to denial of due process).