Court Opinion

ID: 9681858
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:59:49.305805+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:36.242926
License: Public Domain

DUNN, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I disagree with the majority’s holding that the hospital failed to show that the *816following documents are privileged under article 4447d, section 3: documents 9a, 9b, 9c, 9i, 9j, 9k, 11a, 14b, 16b, 16c, each requesting information concerning the applications of doctors McLaughlin, Ziafat, or Armstrong for staff privileges; documents 6a, 6b, 6c, 9g, 9h, 9j, lid, lie, Ilf, llg, 14c, 14d, 16a, 16b, all replies to such requests; and documents 3m and 13a, credential checklists used by the executive committee in coordinating its investigations and listing the dates that letters were sent to references.1
The supreme court in Jordan defined the statutory language of article 4447d, section 3, “records and proceedings” of a committee, as “those documents generated by the committee in order to conduct open and thorough review.” 701 S.W.2d at 647-48. Further, the court stated that the statutory privilege extends to documents that have been prepared by, or at the direction of, the committee, for committee purposes. Id.
A review of the record reveals that the documents containing the minutes of committee meetings, 3c, 3e, 3f, 3g, 3h, 13b, 13c, 13d, were ruled privileged by the trial court and establishes that it is the executive committee’s responsibility to approve or disapprove applications for staff privileges. These minutes also show that the representatives of the departments to which an application is directed, as well as the hospital’s administrator, are active participants on the executive committee, assist it in its investigation and review of applications for staff privileges, and make recommendations concerning action to be taken by the committee.
The authors of the above listed letters requesting information on the applicant doctors were present during and participated in this committee’s activities. The record of the second hearing concerning the discoverability of the documents in question reveals that neither of the parties’ attorneys contested representations made to the court that the administrators had testified in depositions concerning the “workings of the committee” and that “their activities” were in support of committee activities.
I would hold that the hospital has established that the above listed documents were generated or accumulated at the direction of the executive committee for an open and thorough investigation of the applications for staff privileges of doctors McLaughlin, Ziafat, and Armstrong; therefore, they are privileged and not discoverable.
Additionally, I agree with the majority that 5a, 5g, 51, 10a, 15b, and 15d are all privileged; however, document 5b, held to be non-privileged by the majority, is the response to the committee’s request contained in document 5a. Because the request for information concerning a patient’s care was instigated by the committee, I consider document 5a, the response to such request, to be privileged.
Further, I consider document 3i, furnished at committee request as indicated in the document itself, and documents 3k and 3/, concerning the granting of staff privileges directed to the committee representative, to be privileged because they were prepared in connection with the committee’s investigation of the applicant doctor.
Document 15a is a cover letter with an attached report that is identical to 5f. The trial court ruled that 5f is privileged because it was requested by the ad hoc committee. Document 15a is addressed to the doctor under investigation by the ad hoc committee and advises him of the committee’s activities. These documents reflect committee review and investigations and are privileged. Barnes, 751 S.W.2d at 496.
In all other respects, I concur with the majority.

. Documents 9j and 16b are listed twice because a reply is written on the initial request.