Court Opinion

ID: 9857693
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 15:55:30.681426+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:44:18.815855
License: Public Domain

LEVINE, Justice,
specially concurring.
I join in all of the majority opinion except its analysis of the physician-patient privilege. I believe the nurse’s observation of her patient, Miller, was privileged and should not have been admitted to establish foundation *657for the blood test. However, because there was sufficient foundation for admission of the blood test without the nurse’s “testimony,” the error was harmless, so I concur.
The nurse’s observation that Miller did not consume alcohol while under her care was certainly derived from her care and treatment of Miller and was relevant to her care and treatment of Miller, whether or not she expressed it. If Miller had drunk alcohol, he may have required different medical and nursing responses. He was under the nurses’ observation for purposes of care and treatment. The result of this case will make nurses, and medical staff persons regular witnesses in DUI cases. That is unwise, practically, as well as professionally. It grossly interferes with the physician-patient relationship and the trust and confidence a patient, until now, could freely place in that relationship.