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Brown v. Howard

The trial court abused its discretion in ruling that all of the medical records the defendants requested in the plaintiff's negligence action were privileged.

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Courtney Howard sued various medical providers, alleging that they committed negligence during the delivery of Howard’s daughter Sahara, thereby causing a severe brain injury to the child. During the litigation, the medical providers sought discovery of Howard’s own medical records, which led to a dispute about whether and to what extent certain of the requested documents were protected from discovery by a privilege. The medical providers appeal the trial court’s ruling that most of the subject documents are privileged; they further contend the trial court erred by failing to require a privilege log that specified the matters that were privileged and the applicable privilege. For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand with direction.

This Court reviews a trial court’s decision as to discovery matters, including the application of a privilege, for an abuse of discretion. Etowah Environmental Group v. Walsh, 333 Ga. App. 464, 475 3 774 SE2d 220 2015 attorney-client privilege; Wiles v. Wiles, 264 Ga. 594, 598 2 448 SE2d 681 1994 psychiatrist-patient privilege. Further, we also may review the documents at issue to determine whether the trial court correctly applied the privilege. See, e.g., Plunkett v. Ginsburg, 217 Ga. App. 20, 21 456 SE2d 595 1995; Annandale at Suwanee v. Weatherly, 194 Ga. App. 803, 804 392 SE2d 27 1990.

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