Joseph M. Verska, M.d., and the Spine Institute of Idaho, Plaintiffs-Appellants v. Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical…

Summary

The Idaho Supreme Court affirmed a protective order barring discovery of peer-review records in a physician’s lawsuit challenging the nonrenewal of his hospital privileges. It held that the peer-review privilege applies by its unambiguous terms to any action, not only medical-malpractice litigation, and that the physician’s lawsuit waived his own ability to assert the privilege but did not automatically waive the defendants’ privilege. The court also disavowed prior language suggesting that courts may modify an unambiguous statute producing an absurd result and declined to address an issue not decided below. Justice Jones concurred in the result but would have allowed a credible showing of bad-faith misuse to overcome the privilege.