A physician who was shown a pathology slide photograph during a meeting with his attorney, and subsequently said at an examination before trial that he had changed his mind about an earlier diagnosis, cannot suppress either the statement or the photo under attorney-client confidentiality, an upstate trial judge has held.
Supreme Court Justice Judith O’Shea of Chemung County (See Profile) said Dr. Lawrence Goldsmith opened a door he cannot now close by spontaneously revising his initial and apparently inaccurate diagnosis of a woman who died of cancer. The judge refused to strike Goldsmith’s statement and ordered the defendant to share the slide photograph with the plaintiff, rejecting the defendant’s argument that it constitutes attorney work product.
