Burton v. University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics

LAVORATO, Justice.

At issue in this appeal is whether Iowa Code section 135.41 (1993) gives an in-hospital staff committee of a state hospital discretion to deny public inspection of records regarding summaries of nosocomial infections (infections that a person contracts while a patient at the hospital). Assuming the statute does give such discretion, we are then faced with the question whether such hospital must allow public inspection of the summaries pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 22, Iowa’s open records law. Contrary to the district court’s decision, we hold that the statute does indeed…