Patients of Philadelphia State Hospital v. Commonwealth, Department of Public Welfare

Opinion,1

This case comes before us by way of a petition for review of a refusal by the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) to grant petitioners, who are patients in the Philadelphia State Hospital (Hospital), access to an evaluation of the Hospital compiled by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH). After initial argument of the case to a panel of this court, we ordered reargument before the court en banc.

Because there were no official proceedings below and the entire record consists of two letters (a request *129for the report and a denial thereof), we set forth as facts only…