Court Opinion

ID: 9789543
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:38:13.212716+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:23.085828
License: Public Domain

*638-aPER CURIAM.
Judge Field has filed a petition for a rehearing and reconsideration of our decision in which we found that her performance as a district court judge was incompetent. We further found that Judge Field must be removed from office because her incompetency was the result of emotional instability which, over a period of time, she had been unable to overcome. In the petition she requests that this court or the Judicial Fitness Commission hear further evidence "regarding the effect of past emotional problems on future stability.”1
One of the original charges made against Judge Field before the Commission was that she suffered from mental impairment which affected her judicial competency. At the hearing certain deposition testimony relating to her emotional condition was received in evidence. The question of her emotional stability was one of the issues. During the hearing, counsel for the Commission attempted to subpoena and introduce Judge Field’s medical records from both Woodland Park Mental Health Center and the University of Oregon Health Sciences Center where she received treatment. Instead of meeting the issue of her present and future emotional condition and perhaps offering testimony to explain it, she vigorously objected to the introduction of her medical records on the grounds they were subject to the doctor-patient privilege contained in ORS 44.040. As a result, they were not received and have not been seen or considered by this court. It was Judge Field’s decision that the records not be available for introduction and inspection.
The petition for rehearing is denied.

 The petition for rehearing also raises the issues of the failure of one or more of the members of the Commission to disqualify themselves, and the filing of an amended complaint on the morning of the hearing. These two matters were considered in the original opinion and upon reconsideration we adhere to our original opinion for the reasons stated therein.