Jean Charles, Jr. v. Southern Baptist Hospital of Florida, Inc.

Summary

The court held that adverse medical incident reports required by Florida law and accessible under Amendment 7 are not protected patient safety work product merely because a hospital places them in a patient safety evaluation system. It further held that the Federal Act neither expressly nor impliedly preempts Amendment 7 or related Florida reporting and discovery requirements, and therefore reversed the First District's decision. Justice Canady, joined by Justice Polston, dissented from the court's refusal to accept the parties' stipulation for dismissal, arguing that the settled case should have been dismissed.