The confidentiality of medical staff peer review has long been a cornerstone of hospital operations, fostering an environment where physicians can candidly evaluate medical care without the looming specter of malpractice exposure. But this established norm is facing a new threat in Colorado, where a ballot proposal aims to gut peer review confidentiality.
The Foundation of Peer Review Confidentiality
Peer review is a process in which physician conduct that endangers patients within a hospital can be immediately reviewed by peers. Peer review’s goal is to promote continuous ...
Parties in peer review hearings can present a wide range of relevant evidence, regardless of its admissibility in a court of law. But California has passed a new “apology law” that modifies that standard, erecting a potential hurdle for medical staffs to admit relevant evidence against practitioners in peer review hearings.
Under California law, statements, writings, or benevolent gestures expressing sympathy or a general sense of benevolence relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a person involved in an accident are inadmissible in civil trials. (Evid. Code, § 1160.) ...
On Friday, June 22, 2018, a Florida Appeals Court handed down its decision in Omulepu v. Department of Health Board of Medicine. The case involved a doctor's appeal from a decision by the Florida Department of Health, Board of Medicine to revoke a plastic surgeon's right to practice medicine. The main issue on appeal was the effect of the doctor's invocation of his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
In criminal proceedings, a defendant's invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege cannot be used against him. Juries are instructed in criminal cases that they cannot draw ...
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