The Tennessee Supreme Court held that the Quality Improvement Committee (“QIC”) privilege is waivable. Under Tennessee law, healthcare organizations may form a QIC to evaluate patient care. The statute, Tenn. Code Ann. § 68-11-272(c)(1), protects any records and statements “relating to activities of a QIC” from discovery.
The plaintiff, Payton Castillo, brought a negligence lawsuit on behalf of her deceased husband, Marshal Castillo, against various healthcare providers and organizations who were involved in Mr. Castillo’s care, including CHI Memorial Hospital (“Memorial”). After Mr. Castillo’s death, Memorial formed a QIC to evaluate the quality of care that was given to Mr. Castillo. Memorial’s representatives later invited Mrs. Castillo back to the hospital to explain the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death and disclosed protected QIC information to her. When Mrs. Castillo attempted to discover these statements, Memorial claimed the statements were privileged and undiscoverable.
The trial court and Court of Appeals found that the information was discoverable, concluding that the meeting was separate from a QIC proceeding and the privilege did not apply. Memorial sought review from the Tennessee Supreme Court. The Court found that the information disclosed to Mrs. Castillo falls within the protections of the QIC statute. However, the Court concluded that the QIC privilege belonged to Memorial, the entity who formed the QIC, and that Memorial waived its privilege when the chief operating officer voluntarily disclosed protected information to Mrs. Castillo.
To read the unanimous opinion in Castillo v. Rex, et al., authored by Justice Dwight E. Tarwater, visit the opinions section of TNcourts.gov.
