Thurman Meeks’s wife Jeannette died after a cardiac catheterization and stent placement procedure performed by Dr. Terry Tri at South Georgia Medical Center. SGMC. Meeks sued Tri and SGMC for medical malpractice and for damages arising from SGMC’s credentialing and peer review processes. SGMC filed a motion to strike portions of the complaint, claiming that it violated OCGA § § 31-7-133 and 31-7-143, relating to confidentiality of medical and hospital peer review information and hospital peer review committees’ immunity from suit. SGMC also filed a protective order relating to certain interrogatories and requests for production of documents propounded by Meeks, alleging that the information and documents sought were absolutely privileged and nondiscoverable under the Georgia medical review and peer review statutes cited above. After a hearing, the trial court ruled that “the contents of SGMC’s peer review and medical review files, including SGMC’s credentialing files regarding Dr. Tri, are not subject to discovery. This ruling is limited to the contents of those files.” We granted SGMC’s application for interlocutory review of this order. For the following reasons, we reverse.
1. OCGA § 31-7-133 a provides in pertinent part thatexcept in proceedings alleging violation of this article, the proceedings and records of a review organization shall be held in confidence and shall not be subject to discovery or introduction into evidence in any civil action. . . . The confidentiality provisions of this article shall also apply to any proceedings, records, actions, activities, evidence, findings, recommendations, evaluations, opinions, data, or other information shared between review organizations which are performing a peer review function or disclosed to a governmental agency as required by law.The Code section also gives two exceptions to the above confidentiality provisions. Any “information, documents, or records otherwise available from original sources are not to be construed as immune from discovery or use in any such civil action merely because they were presented during proceedings of such organization, nor should any person who testifies before such organization or who is a member of such organization be prevented from testifying as to matters within such person’s knowledge; but such witness cannot be asked about such witness’s testimony before such organization or about opinions formed by such witness as a result of the organization hearings.” OCGA § 31-7-133 a.
