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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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February 7, 2002 Mr. Edward M. Sosa
OR2002-0576 Dear Mr. Sosa: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 158278. R.E. Thomason General Hospital (the "hospital"), owned and operated by the El Paso County Hospital District, received a request for "a copy of the summary report from the Patient Satisfaction Committee regarding patient grievances." You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information. Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." This section encompasses information protected by other statutes. Section 161.032(a) of the Health and Safety Code provides: (a) The records and proceedings of a medical committee are confidential and are not subject to court subpoena. … Records, information, or reports of a medical committee … and records, information, or reports provided by a medical committee … to the governing body of a public hospital … are not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code. …. (c) This section … do[es] not apply to records made or maintained in the regular course of business by a hospital …. Health & Safety Code § 161.032(a), (c). For purposes of this confidentiality provision, a "'medical committee' includes any committee, including a joint committee, of … a hospital …." Health & Safety Code § 161.031(a). Section 161.0315 provides in relevant part that "[t]he governing body of a hospital [or] medical organization … may form … a medical committee, as defined by section 161.031, to evaluate medical and health care services …." Health & Safety Code § 161.0315(a). You indicate that the Hospital Patient Satisfaction Committee created the requested report for presentation to the Hospital Board of Managers. Based on your arguments and our review of the submitted information, we agree that the submitted information is confidential under section 161.032 of the Health and Safety Code and must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code.(1) This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances. This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must appeal by filing suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such an appeal, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a). If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, within 10 calendar days of this ruling, the governmental body will do one of the following three things: 1) release the public records; 2) notify the requestor of the exact day, time, and place that copies of the records will be provided or that the records can be inspected; or 3) notify the requestor of the governmental body's intent to challenge this letter ruling in court. If the governmental body fails to do one of these three things within 10 calendar days of this ruling, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at 877/673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e). If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can appeal that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Department of Public Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408,411 (Tex. App.--Austin 1992, no writ). Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss at the Texas Building and Procurement Commission at 512/475-2497. If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling. Sincerely, Nathan E. Bowden
c: Mr. David Crowder
Footnotes 1. You request that this office issue a previous determination allowing the El Paso County Hospital District to withhold the "minutes, records and reports of hospital committees" from future requestors without the necessity of requesting another decision from this office. We decline to issue such a ruling at this time. POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |