Opinion

R.W. v. Department of Professional Regulation, Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners

  • 566 So. 2d 26
  • 1990 Fla. App. LEXIS 6116
  • 1990 WL 116332
Court
District Court of Appeal of Florida
Filed
Aug 14, 1990
Status
Published
On the bench
Barkdull, Ferguson, Nesbitt
Cited by
1 cases
Authority
More cited than 50.6%

The opinion

PER CURIAM.

R.W., an osteopathic physician, appeals a final judgment, entered after a hearing, granting the Department of Professional Regulation’s petition to enforce a subpoena duces tecum. The judgment ordered compliance with the subpoena to produce certain patient files, and denied the physician’s request for discovery of evidence presented to the Board of Osteopaths, as well as the Board’s deliberations, where a finding was made that probable cause existed to discipline R.W. for “excessively or inappropriately” prescribing a controlled pharmaceutical product. We affirm both rulings for the following reasons.

First, although section 455.225, Florida Statutes (1989), requires prior notice to a physician of the substance of an informal complaint filed against him and notice of the commencement of an investigation based on the complaint, there is no prohibition against serving both the notice of the investigation and the substance of the complaint along with a subpoena for the physician’s medical records. The trial judge was correct in his finding that the Department’s processes satisfied the statute.

Second, chapter 455 does not provide for participation by a physician in the investigatory process — for the purpose of discovery — prior to the filing of an administrative complaint. The Department, based on its investigatory findings, may decide not to prosecute the complaint. Section 120.58(2), Florida Statutes (1989), provides that a person subject to a subpoena may, before compliance, attack the subpoena as (1) not lawfully issued, (2) unreasonably broad in scope, or (3) requiring the production of irrelevant material. However, there is no provision for a pre-issuance challenge to the subpoena. The trial court conducted the hearing provided for by section 120.-58(2), found the subpoena unreasonably broad, and tailored it to comport with the dates alleged in the complaint. The record supports the circuit court’s determination *28 that the subpoena was otherwise lawfully-issued and that the documents sought were relevant.

R.W.’s remaining challenges to the proceeding are premature.

Affirmed.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.