Lowy v. PeaceHealth

¶1 This case presents the issue of whether, in civil litigation, a party may decline to produce requested discoverable information on the basis that to locate the information would require consulting privileged *772documents. A hospital seeks a protective order to prevent it from being required to review its quality assurance records to identify discoverable medical records in a medical negligence suit. Our policy favoring open discovery requires that privileges in derogation of the common law must be narrowly construed. We hold that the prohibition of “review” in Washington’s quality improvement…