Columbia Hospital Corporation of South Broward v. Fein
16 So. 3d 236 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009) (August)
The trial court overruled the hospital’s objection to allowing the plaintiff to discover records of previous adverse medical incidents, and appealed. The hospital argued that the discovered documents included some that were protected by attorney client privilege, and that Article X, section 25 of the Florida Constitution violated Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The district court affirmed holding that the attorney-client privilege argument was not ripe because the trial court did not decide the question of whether those documents deserved such protection.
The district court also held that the section of the Florida Constitution in question was not preempted by federal legislation in that it did not conflict with a federal law’s intent to ensure
“effective peer review” in hospitals.