Who may open a medical mediation procedure to the public, and must the mediation panel open it once a majority of its members agrees?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file on a medical dispute mediation we look for the attendance lists and minutes of the mediation sessions, any paper in which a party or a third person asks for the procedure to be opened, and any record of the mediation committee members' vote on that request.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the main clause at its word: the mediation panel's mediation procedure is not made public, and the only route to opening it the provision gives runs through the panel's own mediation committee members rather than a party's application, since the proviso turns on their affirmative vote alone.
Another reading stresses that the exception is permissive and internal to the panel: even where a majority of the mediation committee members agree, the provision says the panel 'may' open the procedure, and it leaves open what making the procedure public covers and how any person outside the panel would know the vote had taken place.
Your judgment
If a party asks for the procedure to be opened but the file shows no vote by the mediation committee members, what would show whether such a vote occurred?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to give a party a right to request disclosure, or if a court decision explains what making a mediation procedure public covers and who may invoke the exception.