P.R. Laws tit. 20, § 87b
The Insurance Commissioner of Puerto Rico, pursuant to the powers and duties conferred on him by §§ 101 et seq. of Title 26, shall inform the Board of every case, resolution or order finally adjudicated or judicially or extrajudicially transacted against a dentist for malpractice, within ten (10) days following the date the information is received from the insurance companies that underwrite professional liability policies. The Dental Board shall initiate an investigation as soon as it receives such information, to determine if any of the disciplinary measures provided in subsections (1), (2), (4) and (5) of § 87c-1 of this title shall be imposed on the dentist concerned, or if his license to practice dentistry is suspended or revoked.
To the sole effect of carrying out the necessary investigations to determine the disciplinary measures which, pursuant to this section, shall be imposed on the dentist in professional malpractice cases, the Board of Dental Examiners shall request the Secretary of Justice to designate an Investigating Official to carry out the investigations directed in this section in those cases of alleged professional malpractice. The Secretary of Justice shall designate, within five (5) days following the receipt of said request, an Investigating Official who shall have the following functions, powers and duties:
(1) To direct and conduct all investigations which must be performed pursuant to this subchapter for alleged professional malpractice of dentists.
(2) To present his findings, the results of his investigations and any other pertinent evidence at the hearings conducted by the Special Examining Panel.
(3) To examine and cross-examine every witness presented before the Special Examining Panel.
(4) To defend and uphold the Board’s decisions before the courts of justice of Puerto Rico.
In the performance of his duties, the Investigating Official shall have all the powers and faculties conferred to the Board in § 86 of this title, except that of [setting] the amounts to be paid for the appearance of witnesses, as well as the powers and faculties conferred by Act No. 23 of July 24, 1952 on the prosecuting attorneys of the Department of Justice of Puerto Rico.
[The Investigation Official shall have the right to receive fees in the same form as the legal services that the Board is authorized to contract for in § 86 of this title and the same shall be satisfied from the funds assigned to the Department of Justice of Puerto Rico.]
The persons, officials or entities that are in charge of implementing and supervising a quality assurance program in the hospital institutions, and any citizen who alleges he has been injured by a dentist’s professional malpractice shall appear before the Dental Board constituted as provided in this section, in every case that actions that constitute professional malpractice come to their knowledge, to request that the disciplinary measures that are provided in this subchapter be imposed.
The members of a quality assurance committee constituted pursuant to the provisions of this subchapter and the regulations adopted by virtue thereof shall not be financially liable in actions in damages for professional malpractice, for any act or procedure performed as part of the quality assurance committee, provided they do not act intentionally and with knowledge of the harm that can reasonably be caused.
Likewise, the purveyors of health services who give information to a quality assurance committee constituted in accordance with this subchapter or any other act to such effects, the persons who act as witnesses, informers or investigators with regard to the functions of said committee shall not be financially liable in actions in damages for professional malpractice for any act or procedure performed as part of the functions of the quality assurance committee, provided they do not act intentionally and with knowledge of the harm they could reasonably cause.
The investigations, evaluations, procedures, minutes, records and files of every quality assurance committee in which facts are found among other things, which constitute professional malpractice, shall not be subject to the discovery of evidence nor shall they be admissible in evidence in actions in damages for professional malpractice against a purveyor of health services which arise from materials that are subject to evaluation and revision by such committee.
No person who has attended any such committee meeting shall, nor shall be required to, testify in any suit for damages for professional malpractice on any evidence or other matter produced or presented during the committee’s proceedings, or on any findings, recommendations, evaluations, opinions or other actions of the committee or any of its members. Provided, That any information, documents or files otherwise available at their sources shall not be subject to such immunity of discovery of evidence, nor to the limitation of its admissibility in evidence in any of said suits for damages, merely because they have been presented during the proceedings of a quality assurance committee.
No person who testifies before a quality assurance committee or who is a member thereof shall be excused, nor shall be prevented from testifying on matters of which he has personal knowledge of those produced or obtained through the proceedings of a quality assurance committee. Nevertheless, the witness cannot be interrogated about his testimony before such committee, nor on information obtained by him through and during the committee’s proceedings or on his opinions resulting from such proceedings.
The Board and the Investigating Official shall not divulge any information of a confidential nature they receive, unless expressly authorized to do so by the person who offered it, or when it is essential to publish its contents in the public interest.
The Investigating Official and the Board shall be exempt from civil liability for their actions in complying with the functions provided herein.
Any dentist who is affected by an order or resolution of the Board issued under this section may request a reconsideration thereof within ten (10) days following the date the notice is received. Once the reconsideration is resolved, if it is adverse to him, he may resort to the Court of First Instance with a petition for review, within a term of thirty (30) days after having been notified of the decision on the reconsideration.
The Dental Board shall notify the Insurance Commissioner and the Secretary of Health of the action taken with regard to the dentist, once it is final and binding.
The Dental Board shall render a report to the Governor of Puerto Rico, annually, of the cases settled judicially or extrajudicially, and those adjudicated by the courts to recover damages for fault, negligence and professional malpractice, as well as the action taken in each case regarding the dentist in question. The Insurance Commissioner shall provide the Dental Board with all the information related to the above stated cases that it may require, and which it deems necessary for the effects of giving strict compliance to the provisions of this section.
History —Aug. 8, 1925, No. 75, p. 550, added as § 7A on June 16, 1976, No. 6, p. 662, § 1; renumbered as § 7B and amended on Oct. 9, 1986, No. 11, p. 817, § 8.