A. Except as provided in subsections B and C of this section, any reports, statements, memoranda, proceedings, findings, or other records of mediation committees shall be privileged and shall not be subject to discovery, subpoena or other means of legal compulsion for their release to any person or entity and shall not be admissible in evidence in any judicial or administrative proceeding. Nor shall any participants in the mediation process be compelled to disclose the proceedings of the mediation committee by deposition, interrogatories, requests for admission, or other means of legal compulsion for use as evidence in any judicial or administrative proceeding. This privilege may be claimed by the legal entity creating the mediation committee, the mediation committee, the individual members of the mediation committee, the dentist whose conduct is being examined, the patient requesting mediation and any witnesses testifying before or supplying information to the mediation committee. Such privilege shall only protect information derived from the mediation proceedings and shall not restrict discovery directed to the dentist who treated the patient, even though the testimony or records of the dentist have become part of the mediation record.

B. Nothing in this section shall limit the authority, which may otherwise be provided by law, of the Board of Dentistry to obtain records of proceedings of the mediation committee for use:

1. In conjunction with the determination of appeals of mediation committee recommendations;

2. In an investigation being conducted by a review panel of the Board, pursuant to Section 328.43a of this title; or

3. In an individual proceeding being conducted by the Board, pursuant to Section 328.44a of this title.

C. Nothing in this section shall limit the authority, which may otherwise be provided by law, of the Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma, a District Attorney, or a United States Attorney to obtain records of proceedings of the mediation committee for use in investigations or litigation, conducted by the State of Oklahoma or the federal government.

Added by Laws 1991, c. 213, § 5, emerg. eff. May 21, 1991. Amended by Laws 1997, c. 203, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 1997.