Cunningham v. Cannon, No. COA06-1532 (N.C. Ct. App. Dec. 18, 2007)

In a medical malpractice case, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina affirmed a lower court decision that certain information was not protected by the state peer review statute.

The estate of a patient who committed suicide sued the physician who was responsible for the patient's care and the hospital. During discovery, the estate tried to obtain information about an order entered by the Georgia Board of Medical Examiners (GBME) pertaining to the physician as well as information from the physician's appointment application. The appeals court concluded that the GBME order was not protected by the peer review statute because it was public information. The court also refused to protect information on the application because it was not generated by a medical review committee but by the physician himself.