Senate Bill No. 633

(By Senator Chafin)

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[Introduced February 21, 2000; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article three-c, chapter thirty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to permitting confidential proceedings, testimony and records subject to subpoena.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article three-c, chapter thirty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3C. HEALTH CARE PEER REVIEW ORGANIZATION PROTECTION.
ยง30-3C-3. Confidentiality of review organization's records.

The proceedings and records of a review organization shall be confidential and privileged and but shall not be subject to subpoena or discovery proceedings or be admitted as evidence in any civil action arising out of the matters which are subject to evaluation and review by such that organization; and no and any person who was in attendance at a meeting of such that organization shall may be permitted or required to testify in any such civil action as to any evidence or other matters produced or presented during the proceedings of such the organization or as to any findings, recommendations, evaluations, opinions or other actions of such the organization or any members thereof: Provided, That information, documents or records otherwise available from original sources are not to be construed as immune from discovery or use in any civil action merely because they were presented during proceedings of such the organization, nor should any person who testifies before such the organization or who is a member of such the organization be prevented from testifying as to matters within his or her knowledge, but and the witness shall not may be asked about his or her testimony before such an that organization or opinions formed by him or her as a result of said the organization hearings: Provided, however, That an individual may execute a valid waiver authorizing the release of the contents of his or her file pertaining to his or her own acts or omissions: and such waiver shall remove the confidentiality and privilege of said contents otherwise provided by this section: Provided further, That upon further review by any other review organization, upon judicial review of any finding or determination of a review organization or in any civil action filed by an individual whose activities have been reviewed, any testimony, documents, proceedings, records and other evidence adduced before any such that review organization shall be available to such any further review organization, the court and the individual whose activities have been reviewed. The court shall enter such protective orders as may be appropriate to provide for the confidentiality of the irrelevant or unnecessary records provided the court by a review organization and all papers and records relating to the proceedings had before the reviewing court.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make confidential information obtained by a review organization subject to subpoena.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.