(a)  Neither the proceedings nor the records of peer-review boards are subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any case except litigation arising out of the imposition of sanctions upon a podiatrist. Any imposition or notice of a restriction of privileges or a requirement of supervision imposed on a podiatrist for unprofessional conduct is subject to discovery and admissible in any proceeding against the podiatrist or against any podiatry care facility or podiatry care provider that allows the podiatrist to perform the podiatry procedures that are the subject of the restrictions or supervision during the period of any imposition or notice of a restriction of privileges or a requirement of supervision, and applies to records made in the regular course of business by a hospital or other provider of healthcare information. Documents or records available from original sources are not to be construed as immune from discovery or use in any civil proceedings merely because they were presented during the proceedings of the committee.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 5-29-20

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • unprofessional conduct: as used in this chapter includes, but is not limited to, the following items or any combination of them and may be further defined by regulations established by the board with the approval of the director:

    (1)  Fraudulent or deceptive procuring or use of a license of limited registration;

    (2)  All advertising of podiatry business that is intended or has a tendency to deceive the public;

    (3)  Conviction of a felony, or conviction of a crime arising out of the practice of podiatry;

    (4)  Abandonment of a patient;

    (5)  Dependence upon a controlled substance, habitual drunkenness, or rendering professional services to a patient while the podiatrist or limited registrant is intoxicated or incapacitated by the use of drugs;

    (6)  Promotion by a podiatrist or limited registrant of the sale of drugs, devices, appliances, or goods or services provided for a patient in a manner that exploits the patient for the financial gain of the podiatrist or limited registrant;

    (7)  Immoral conduct of a podiatrist or limited registrant in the practice of podiatry;

    (8)  Willfully making and filing false reports or records in the practice of podiatry;

    (9)  Willful omission to file or record, or willfully impeding or obstructing a filing or recording, or inducing another person to omit to file or record podiatry/medical or other reports as required by law;

    (10)  Failure to furnish details of a patient's medical record to a succeeding podiatrist or medical facility upon proper request pursuant to this chapter;

    (11)  Solicitation of professional patronage by agents or persons or profiting from acts of those representing themselves to be agents of the licensed podiatrist or limited registrant;

    (12)  Division of fees or agreeing to split or divide the fees received for professional services for any person for bringing to or referring a patient;

    (13)  Agreeing with clinical or bioanalytical laboratories to accept payments from those laboratories for individual tests or test series for patients, or agreeing with podiatry laboratories to accept payment from those laboratories for work referred;

    (14)  Willful misrepresentation in treatment;

    (15)  Practicing podiatry with an unlicensed podiatrist except in accordance with the rules and regulations of the board, or aiding or abetting those unlicensed persons in the practice of podiatry;

    (16)  Gross and willful overcharging for professional services, including filing of false statements for collection of fees for which services are not rendered or willfully making or assisting in making a false claim or deceptive claim or misrepresenting a material fact for use in determining rights to podiatric care or other benefits;

    (17)  Offering, undertaking, or agreeing to cure or treat disease by a secret method, procedure, treatment, or medicine;

    (18)  Professional or mental incompetence;

    (19)  Incompetent, negligent, or willful misconduct in the practice of podiatry that includes the rendering of unnecessary podiatry services and any departure from or the failure to conform to the minimal standards of acceptable and prevailing podiatry practice in his or her area of expertise as is determined by the board. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-29-16

(b)  There is no monetary liability on the part of, and no cause of action for damages arising against, any member of an appointed peer-review board operated pursuant to written bylaws, for any act or proceeding undertaken or performed within the scope of the functions of the board.

(c)  There is no monetary liability on the part of, and no cause of action for damages arising against, any person on account of the communication of information in the possession of that person to any peer-review board or the board of examiners in podiatry when the communication is intended to aid in the evaluation of the qualifications, fitness, or character of a practitioner of podiatry and does not represent as true any matter not reasonably believed to be true.

(d)  Any peer-review processes authorized by statute and carried out in good faith have the benefit of the state action exemption to the state antitrust law.

History of Section.
P.L. 1988, ch. 274, § 2; P.L. 2019, ch. 308, art. 1, § 12.