In what is becoming well settled law, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that a medical resident is entitled to seek production of the evaluations and records of other residents as part of a federal discrimination claim, regardless of the confidentiality rules of state peer review statutes.
In Gargiulo v. Baystate Health Inc., Dr. Gargiulo alleged age and disability discrimination against Baystate Health Inc. and Baystate Medical Center, Inc. She sought production of the evaluations of other residents in her program, but the defendants declined stating state peer review confidentiality statutes.
The Court reaffirmed that there was no federal common law privileges against production in this situation and that the federal discovery rights trump state peer review protections.
