County of Los Angeles v. Superior Court

In this case we conclude that a department-wide hospital committee may satisfy the provision of Evidence Code section 1157 (section 1157) excepting proceedings and records of certain health care provider committees from discovery. We also conclude that the plaintiffs in this medical malpractice lawsuit have not established a present entitlement to discover the current medical opinion of the defendant physicians, who have not been designated as experts pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 2034, with respect to the medical procedures upon which plaintiffs base their lawsuit. Finally, we conclude that to the degree that the observations or opinions of these defendants are otherwise discoverable, or may become discoverable, the defendants cannot avoid testifying on the theory that they have received input from their attorneys or experts engaged by their attorneys to aid in their defense of the litigation.

Factual and Procedural Summary

Petitioners Sima D. Kahn, M.D., and Jane L. Ramp, M.D. (the physicians) and the County of Los Angeles are defendants in a pending action brought by real parties in interest Antonia Martinez, Ruben Martinez and Juana Martinez (real…