Title
Document Type
Case Brief
Publication Date
7-18-1979
Opinion
Open-heart surgeon brought action under Sherman Anti-Trust Act as well as under state law seeking recovery from, among others, general hospital and professional association of surgeons for denial of hospital staff privileges. Plaintiff moved for order compelling defendants and certain third-party witnesses to respond to discovery requests and deposition questions. The District Court, Snyder, J., held that: (1) although information sought was apparently relevant to both federal and state claims, federal common law was determinative of whether defendants had properly invoked a privilege; (2) although there is a powerful interest in confidentiality embodied in Pennsylvania Peer Review Protection Act, the Act would not be applied to shield from discovery events surrounding denial of staff privileges, including what occurred at meetings of hospital's credentials committee and executive committee; and (3) discovery could be had of nonparty hospitals with respect to open-heart operations performed at such facilities. Motion granted
Court
United States District Court, W. D. Pennsylvania.
Judges
Snyder
Lawyers
"Roslyn L. Litman and John E. Grasberger, Litman, Litman, Harris & Spector, Pittsburgh, Pa., for plaintiff; H. Yale Gutnick, McKenna & Strassburger, Pittsburgh, Pa., on motion. Robert Frantz, Buchanan, Ingersoll, Rodewald, Kyle & Buerger, Pittsburgh, Pa., for defendants Magovern and Cardiothoracic Associates. David L. McClenahan, Kirkpatrick, Lockhart, Johnson & Hutchinson, Pittsburgh, Pa., for all other defendants. John P. McComb, Jr., Moorhead & Knox, Pittsburgh, Pa., on motion for Shadyside Hospital."
Recommended Citation
27 Fed.R.Serv.2d 810, 27 Fed.R.Serv.2d 1372, 1979-1 Trade Cases P 62,658, 4 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 573, 4 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 1313