Mississippi Court Clarifies Malice Exception to Doctor Privilege

A Mississippi doctor must produce facts indicating malice before being allowed to take discovery of otherwise privileged peer review materials, the state’s top court said.

Benjamin Rush’s mere assertion that Rush Health Systems Inc. acted with malice when it terminated him wasn’t enough to open up documents provided to or created by the hospital’s peer review committee in connection with proceedings against him, the court said.

The case presented an issue of first impression for the Mississippi Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal and sent the suit back to the trial court for further proceedings.

Most states have medical peer ...