REDA ABDEL-FATTAH, PETITIONER,
v.
RENEE TAUB, RESPONDENT

Fla. 4th DCA | 1993-04-28
No. 93-0085
ANSTEAD, GUNTHER and POLEN, JJ., concur.
617 So. 2d 429 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1993)

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that a trial court order compelling a non-party medical expert to attend a deposition and provide information about prior examinations is reviewable by certiorari and requires a balancing of interests.


Facts & Procedural History

A non-party medical expert was ordered to attend a deposition and provide information about prior examinations, despite claims of burden, cost, and pa…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Petitioner is a non-party medical expert who seeks certiorari review of a trial court order compelling him to attend a deposition and to provide information as to other insurance company/defense counsel-requested examinations done by him within one (1) year prior to deposition. Despite petitioner’s unrebutted affidavit as to the burden and cost of producing such information, as well as the breach of patient confidentiality, the trial court provided only that it would set an expert witness fee for Dr. Abdel-Fattah after the deposition.

This court has previously considered such orders as appropriate for certiorari review. Crandall v. Michaud, 603 So. 2d 637 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992); Young v. Santos, 611 So. 2d 586 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993). We have indicated that the trial court must undertake a balancing analysis between the plaintiff’s right to seek relevant evidence, the cost and burden placed on the examining physician to compile the evidence sought, and the confidentiality rights of other non-party patients. See McAdoo v. Ogden, 573 So. 2d 1084 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991).

We have determined that the order here on review constitutes a departure from the essential requirements of law, and since Dr. Abdel-Fattah is not a party, plenary appeal would not be available to him. We grant the petition and quash the order entered below. We remand to the trial court to determine a reasonable cost for Dr. Abdel-Fattah to compile the information contemplated by the December 10, 1992 order, to make provisions for payment of such cost prior to the doctor’s deposition (see Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.351(c)), and to provide for protection of the confidentiality of other non-party patients (i.e., by “whiting out” their names and addresses on any documents or affidavits produced). Young v. Santos, 611 So. 2d 586 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993).

CERTIORARI GRANTED.

ANSTEAD, GUNTHER and POLEN, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw