Brahm v. DHSC, LLC — Mar. 2016 (Summary)

DISCOVERY OF MEDICAL RECORDS

Brahm v. DHSC, LLC
No. 2015CA00165 (Ohio Ct. App. Mar. 21, 2016)

In a medical negligence claim against a hospital and treating physician, the husband of a deceased patient made a number of discovery requests to the hospital, including information concerning the physician’s and the hospital’s catheterization department’s complication rates with percutaneous coronary interventions.  The trial court denied the request and instead ordered the hospital to submit the documents to an in camera review to determine if the documents were “confidential in whole or in part.”  The hospital appealed the trial court’s decision, informing the court it would be unable to provide the complication statistics because that information was only contained in non-discoverable quality assurance and peer review files.  However, the Court of Appeals of Ohio dismissed the appeal, holding that a trial court’s order for a hospital to submit documents for an in camera review by the court did not constitute a final appealable order.  The court of appeals noted the trial court did not order the hospital to release any documents, and the issue of whether or not certain information was privileged was not yet decided.  The dissent disagreed, arguing the disclosure violated the meaning of the statute per se.