The Supreme Court of Texas Rejects Memorial Hermann Hospital System’s (et al.) Request for Mandamus
The Supreme Court of Texas has issued an opinion rejecting Memorial Hermann Hospital System’s (et al.) request for mandamus regarding the revelation of discovery information on the retaliatory and anticompetitive use of Memorial Hermann’s peer review process.
With this ruling, the Court found that Memorial Hermann did in fact have to turn over information dealing with health care staff peer reviews they claimed was confidential. In reviewing the Harris County District Court’s order to produce documents, the Supreme Court held that nearly all documents ordered to be produced were discoverable. This essentially means that Memorial Hermann will be unable to hide large amounts of information that potentially implicates them in our client’s claims that the peer review system was unfairly abused by certain hospital staff to defame Plaintiff.
Our client is a cardiac surgeon, who previously held operating privileges at Memorial Hermann using advanced robotic techniques. For years, our client was respected for the implementation of cutting edge techniques and robotic procedures in the field of cardiac care. This all changed when our client expressed a desire to move the practice to Methodist West Hospital, also located in the Houston Area.
The desire to change hospital systems was met with backlash among certain doctors and administrators in the Memorial Hermann System. Plaintiff alleges that representatives of the hospital began to disseminate defaming information and outright untruths about the success/mortality rates of Plaintiff through both formal (peer reviews) and informal means (mouth to mouth smear campaigns). The defamation of our client was meant to damage the once successful practice of our client as it moved hospital systems in the same area.
We agree with the ruling of the Supreme Court of Texas to make Memorial Hermann release peer review information related to our client’s case. Memorial Hermann’s petition for mandamus from the Supreme Court of Texas came following previous rulings from the trial court and the court of appeals to release this information.