Florida Hospital Loses Fight Over Medical Records Privilege

Florida’s Shands Teaching Hospital & Clinic can’t proceed on a claim that a federal privilege law takes precedence over a state law requiring it to turn over certain medical records to patients, a federal court in the state said.

Shands brought this declaratory judgment action seeking a determination that the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act’s privilege for “patient safety work product” barred a medical malpractice plaintiff from accessing hospital documents.

But the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida dismissed the case Thursday, saying it doesn’t have authority to hear it, as it doesn’t involve diverse parties ...