Court Opinion

ID: 9737096
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:15:45.84133+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:23:56.497486
License: Public Domain

Dooley, J.,
concurring. I concur in the result and the analysis of the majority. I write here only to add that the trial court’s holding that the peer-review privilege, 26 V.S.A. § 1443, barred the introduction of evidence on action or inaction in the peer-review committee was not appealed and is not before us. There are, I believe, significant reasons to believe that this ruling was wrong and that it extended the reach of § 1443 far beyond its intended scope. It was, however, the defendant Hospital corporation which invoked the privilege and created the untenable situation where it could not prove the actions it took as a result of the peer-review to defend against plaintiff’s claim. Its tactical decision, and not improper testimony by Dr. Porterfield, was the real source of its problems before the jury. We should not intervene when its tactical decision proved unwise.