Florida Supreme Court Upholds Amendment 7, Right of Patients to Documents on Adverse Events
By George F. Indest III, J.D., M.P.A., LL.M., Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Health Law
The Florida Supreme Court in Charles v. Southern Baptist Hospital, on January 31, 2017, issued a decision dealing with the relationship of Florida’s Constitution Amendment 7, allowing patient access to documents on adverse medical incidents, and the Federal Patient Safety Quality Improvement Act (PSQIA). The Florida Supreme Court disagreed with the lower court’s interpretation of the PSQIA and that the PSQIA preempted Amendment 7. It ruled that PSQIA was never intended as a shield against the production of documents and that Amendment 7 and other provisions of Florida law are not preempted by PSQIA (which […]