Court Opinion

ID: 9634461
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:13:53.997735+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:43:12.076230
License: Public Domain

Murphy, C.J.,

concurring in part and dissenting in part:

I fully agree with the Court that a proceeding before the Commission on Medical Discipline is not “civil action” within the meaning of Maryland Code (1957, 1978 Cum. Supp.), Article 43, § 134A. I do not, however, agree with the Court’s holding that the Commission may, notwithstanding the provisions of § 130A (a) (3), subpoena “minutes or notes” taken by the Hospital Committee in the course of determining the denial, limitation, reduction or termination of a physician’s staff privileges. Section 130A (a) (3) provides in no uncertain terms that such “minutes or notes” are not “sub*16ject to review or discovery by any person.” Whether the Commission is a “person” within the meaning of that subsection can only be ascertained by considering § 130A in its entirety. That section mandates that certain required “reports” be filed with the Commission. It provides:
“(a) Reports of denial, limitation or termination of staff privileges for unprofessional conduct; resignation while under formal accusation. — (1) Each hospital and related institution shall report to the Commission each denial of a physician’s application for staff privileges and each limitation, reduction, or termination of previously granted staff privileges if the action results from any of the causes listed in § 130(h) of this article as unprofessional conduct, or any voluntary resignation of a physician while the physician is under formal accusation of activities listed in § 130(h) of this article.
“(2) The report shall be submitted within ten days after the hospital or related institution acts on the staff privileges and shall specify the reasons for the action.
“(3) In no event shall any minutes or notes taken in the course of determining the denial, limitation, reduction or termination of staff privileges be subject to review or discovery by any person.
“(b) Reports of convictions. — Each court shall report to the Commission each conviction of a physician for any crime involving moral turpitude within ten days after the conviction.
“(c) Subpoena power of Commission. — The Commission may enforce this section by subpoena.
“(d) Immunity from civil action. — A person who in good faith provides the information required under this section is immune from civil action for damages resulting from the provision of information.
“(e) Reports not subject to subpoena or discovery. — A report made under this section is not subject *17to subpoena or discovery proceeding in any civil action except proceedings arising out of hearings and decisions of the Commission. (1977, ch. 173.)”
In concluding that the Commission was not authorized to subpoena the notes or minutes, the Court of Special Appeals made these cogent observations:
“The parts of art. 43, § 130A (a) are interrelated. Subsection (a) (1) requires that hospitals make certain reports to the Disciplinary Commission. Subsection (a) (2) specifies the time of filing and content of the required report. Thus, the context of subsection (a) (3) requires it to be read as describing material which shall neither be included in the report nor otherwise made available to the Disciplinary Commission.
“The legislative history of art. 43, § 130A (Senate Bill 263) shows that, as originally proposed, that Bill did not prohibit review or discovery of a hospital’s minutes or notes concerning the status of a physician’s staff privileges. A Senate Finance Committee Report, dated 28 February 1977, recommended, among other things, that the Bill be amended to include such a prohibition and that the Bill as amended be enacted. The report described the purpose of the proposed legislation as follows:
‘The bill provides a means by which the Commission on Medical Discipline can learn of, and review each denial or reduction of a physician’s staff privileges, and other occurrences of unprofessional conduct. As amended, the bill also safeguards the rights of the accused by denying discovery of pertinent notes regarding the investigation of a physician.’ (Emphasis in original.)
“The Bill was enacted as amended.
“This history establishes that the purpose of subsection (a) (3) is to protect an accused physician from the disclosure of certain materials. To accomplish that purpose fully, subsection (a) (3) must be read as excluding minutes or notes concerning the status of a physician’s staff privileges from *18the material which a hospital is otherwise required to make available to the Disciplinary Commission, a body authorized to impose sanctions upon a physician for unprofessional conduct.
“Thus the context, the legislative history, and the purpose of art. 43, § 130A (a) (3) establish a manifest legislative intent that the Disciplinary Commission be included in the word ‘person.’ We now consider the relation between that provision and other parts of the statute.
“Article 43, § 130 (i) authorizes the Disciplinary Commission to issue subpoenas. It does not restrict the type of material which a hospital may be required to produce. Article 43, § 130A (c), also authorizes the Disciplinary Commission to issue subpoenas. Article 43, § 130A (a) (3), however, restricts the type of material which a hospital may be required to produce by excluding ‘minutes or notes.’ That section provides that ‘[i]n no event’ shall those ‘minutes or notes’ be made available to the Disciplinary Commission. Under these circumstances, in order to harmonize and reconcile these three provisions, art. 43, § 130A (a) (3) must be read as restricting the Disciplinary Commission’s authority to compel the production of ‘minutes or notes,’ not only under art. 43, § 130A (c), but also under art. 43, § 130 (i)____” Arthur E. Cocco et al. v. Maryland Commission on Medical Discipline, 39 Md. App. 170, 384 A. 2d 766.
I think it readily apparent that in excluding notes or minutes from Commission subpoena, the Legislature concluded that no need existed for their disclosure since the Hospital Committee was required to make an official report to the Commission of every case in which there was a denial, limitation, or-termination of a physician’s staff privileges. It undoubtedly recognized the desirability of keeping sacrosanct the notes taken by individual members of the Hospital Committee so as to encourage members freely to make notes of their impressions in the course of considering the issue. The minutes of the Hospital Committee, which would to some extent record and be reflective of the views taken by each individual member were protected from disclosure for the same reason. Of course, if the notes or *19minutes were made part of the record before the Commission they would lose their confidential status and enter the public domain once an appeal was taken from the Commission’s action. In stating that “in no event” should such material be subject to subpoena “by any person,” the Legislature intended a literal application of that language, rather than a more limited technical, legal definition of the term “person.” I would, therefore, affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.
Judge Orth authorizes me to state that he joins in this opinion.