SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.
These petitions for certiorari, which have been consolidated for en banc consideration, raise the common, currently contentious, issue of the effect of section 455.241(2), Florida Statutes (1989) on the right of the defense in a medical malpractice case to ex parte access to the plaintiff's non-party treating physicians. In one of the cases, Castillo-Plaza v. Green, Case no. 94-1428, the trial judge precluded any such communication whatever "except through the use of deposition as provided by the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure," and the defendants petitioned for certiorari review. In the other two, Pierre v. North Shore Medical Center, Case no. 94-1493 and Giron v. Noy, Case no. 94-1675, the trial court precluded ex parte discussions as to the patient's "medical condition," but allowed communications as to "the issues in this case or any other matter not otherwise prohibited by law." In these cases, the respective plaintiffs seek certiorari review.
The order reads as follows:
THIS CAUSE, having come on to be heard on Thursday, May 12, 1994 pursuant to Plaintiff's Response to Defendant's Notice of Intent to Interview Witnesses; and the Court having reviewed the court file, having heard argument of counsel and being otherwise duly advised in the premises, it is
ORDERED and ADJUDGED, as follows:
1. Defendant shall not communicate with any treating healthcare provider except through the use of deposition as provided by the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure.
The order in Pierre states:
THIS CAUSE, having come before this Court on Thursday, May 19, 1994, on the Plaintiff's Motion to Preclude Conference with Plaintiff's Treating Physicians and Health Care Providers and Defendants' Motion to Execute Medical Records Releases, and it having been represented to the Court that:
1. Plaintiff seeks an Order pursuant to Florida Statute § 455.241 prohibiting all contact and communications between treating physicians of the Plaintiff and defense counsel.
2. Defense counsel agrees that such physicians may not provide records or advise the Defendants' counsel of the medical condition of the Plaintiff.
3. Defense counsel seeks authority to communicate to such physicians matters such as the issues in this cause.
And the Court being otherwise fully advised in the premises, it is hereby
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED:
1. Pursuant to Florida Statute § 455.241, treating physicians, who are not potential defendants in this case, shall not discuss the medical condition of LYDIA D. PIERRE with defense counsel in the absence of an authorization or Subpoena for Deposition. Similarly, any information disclosed to the physician may not be disclosed to defense counsel in the absence of a Release or Subpoena.
2. However, defense counsel may communicate with such physicians to advise them about the issues in this case or any other matter not otherwise prohibited by law.
The order in Giron provides:
THIS CAUSE, having come on to be heard on Thursday, June 23, 1994, pursuant to the Plaintiff's Objection to Defendant Raul Ravelo, M.D.'s Notice of Intent to Interview Witnesses Pursuant to Constitutional Right and/or Waiver of Statutory Privilege, and the Court having reviewed the court file, having heard argument of counsel and being otherwise duly advised in the premises, it is,
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED, as follows:
1. The Plaintiff's objections be and the same are hereby denied; and
2. Pursuant to Florida Statutes § 455.241, treating physicians, who are not potential defendants in this case, shall not discuss the medical condition of Margarita Giron with defense counsel in the absence of an authorization or Subpoena for deposition. Similarly, any information disclosed to the physician by Margarita Giron or her representative, may not be disclosed to defense counsel in the absence of a Release or Subpoena.
3. However, defense counsel may communicate with such treating physicians to advise them about the issues in this case or any other matter not otherwise prohibited by law.
4. In advance of any discussions with said treating physicians, defense counsel shall show this Order to said physician together with a copy of the case captioned Johnson v. Mount Sinai Medical Center of Miami, 615 So.2d 257 (Fla.App. 3 Dist. 1993) which is attached hereto and incorporated herein.
We hold alternatively that (1) because of a clearly stated exception contained in the statute, the privilege established by section 455.241(2) does not at all apply to medical malpractice cases like these, and (2) assuming arguendo a contrary determination that it does, there is no basis even under the statute for precluding communications as to any matter beyond the medical records and the care, treatment and medical condition of the patient. Accordingly, the petition in Castillo-Plaza is granted and those in Pierre and Giron are denied.
I.
The present controversy has its genesis in Coralluzzo v. Fass, 450 So.2d 858 (Fla. 1984) and Frantz v. Golebiewski, 407 So.2d 283 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), in which the Supreme Court and this one respectively held that there was no legal impediment to "ex parte," but voluntary, conversations concerning any matter between a patient's treating doctors and those involved in the defense of his personal injury claim, including one for malpractice. In 1988, however, the legislature added the emphasized language to section 455.241(2):
(2) Such [medical] records shall not be furnished to
and the medical condition of a patient may not be discussed with any person other than the patient or his legal representative
or other health care providers involved in the care or treatment of the patient, except upon written authorization of the patient. However, such records may be furnished without written authorization to any person, firm, or corporation which has procured or furnished such examination or treatment with the patient's consent or when compulsory physical examination is made pursuant to Rule 1.360, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, in which case copies of the medical record shall be furnished to both the defendant and the plaintiff. Such records may be furnished in any civil or criminal action, unless otherwise prohibited by law, upon the issuance of a subpoena from a court of competent jurisdiction and proper notice to the patient or his legal representative by the party seeking such records.
Except in a medical negligence action when a health care provider is or reasonably expects to be named as a defendant, information disclosed to a health care practitioner by a patient in the course of the care and treatment of such patient is confidential and may be disclosed only to other health care providers involved in the care or treatment of the patient or if permitted by written authorization from the patient or compelled by subpoena at a deposition, evidentiary hearing, or trial for which proper notice has been given.
Ch. 88-208, § 2, Laws of Fla. (§ 455.241(2), Fla. Stat. (1989)) (emphasis supplied). In several, apparently conflicting, decisions since, the district courts have considered the effect of this amendment on the previous rule. See Franklin v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co., 566 So.2d 529 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990) (non-medical malpractice action), review dismissed, 574 So.2d 142 (Fla. 1990); Phillips v. Ficarra, 618 So.2d 312 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993) (same); Johnson v. Mount Sinai Medical Ctr., Inc., 615 So.2d 257 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993) (malpractice action); Kirkland v. Middleton, 639 So.2d 1002 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994) (same), review dismissed, 645 So.2d 453 (Fla. 1994); Richter v. Bagala, 647 So.2d 215 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994) (same), review granted sub nom. Acosta v. Richter, 650 So.2d 989 (Fla. 1995). We hold in this case, however, that the amendment itself negates the applicability of the statute in all medical malpractice cases. We base this conclusion — which is adopted here for the first time probably because it seems never to have been previously considered — on the statute's clear provision that the privilege it establishes with respect to
In Johnson, 615 So.2d at 257, for example, this court simply assumed the applicability of the privilege in that malpractice case without discussion or decision.
information disclosed to a health care practitioner by a patient in the course of the care and treatment of such patient
applies
[e]xcept in a medical negligence action when
a health care provider is or reasonably expects to be named as
a defendant. . . .
§ 455.241(2), Fla. Stat. (1989) (emphasis supplied). Although the statute as a whole is far from a model of clarity, we find it impossible to read the plain language of the exception — which is the primary, if not the exclusive, appropriate source of its meaning, see 49 Fla.Jur.2d Statutes § 111 (1984) — in any other way. To repeat and rephrase, the privilege of confidentiality for information disclosed to "a health care practitioner" — like the treating physicians involved in these cases — does not apply in "a medical negligence action when a health care provider is or reasonably expects to be named as a defendant" — which describes the present actions perfectly. In this regard, it is well established, in accordance with the ordinary rules of grammar and rhetoric, that the word "a," as repeatedly and exclusively used in the operative portions of the statute, means "any." Izadi v. Machado (Gus) Ford, Inc., 550 So.2d 1135, 1138 n. 3 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); State ex rel. Roberts v. Snyder, 149 Ohio St. 333, 78 N.E.2d 716 (1948); First Am. Nat'l Bank v. Olsen, 751 S.W.2d 417 (Tenn. 1987), appeal dismissed, 485 U.S. 1001, 108 S.Ct. 1460, 99 L.Ed.2d 691 (1988); see United States Fidelity Guar. Co. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 369 So.2d 410, 412, (Fla. 3d DCA 1979) ("an"). If, as the plaintiffs argue, the exception refers only to a case in which the treating physician was herself the active or potential defendant, the statute would read "except in a medical negligence action when the [or that] health care provider is or reasonably expects to be named as a defendant" or that "information disclosed to the [or that] health care practitioner . . . is confidential." But it does not read that way and we are powerless judicially to amend the statute to provide that it does. See Holly v. Auld, 450 So.2d 217 (Fla. 1984).
That judicial amendment is necessary to reach the contrary result is demonstrated most forcefully by the very cases which have done so. They apparently stem initially from Franklin, which, because it was not a malpractice case, did not involve the present issue at all. Nevertheless, the Franklin court twice referred to the present issue; first correctly, but, second, quite incorrectly:
This statutory language is abundantly clear on its face. It provides for waiver of confidentiality of covered medical information in only three circumstances:
1) in a medical negligence action, when a health care provider is or reasonably expects to be named as a defendant.
* * * * * *
In other words, in all cases other than those where the health care provider is a defendant. . . .
Franklin, 566 So.2d at 532 (emphasis supplied). It is apparent that the unaccountable substitution of "the" for "a," as it appears in the statute, sub silentio effected a total reversal of the meaning of that phrase.
Much the same thing occurred in the Kirkland case, which was a malpractice case in which the present issue was therefore actually presented for the first time. Apparently without recognizing that Franklin was not a malpractice case, the fifth district nevertheless purported to follow that decision. Indeed, it virtually quoted Franklin verbatim on the point — but with one significant but unacknowledged departure. The court said:
We agree with our sister court in Franklin v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co., 566 So.2d 529 (Fla. 1st DCA), rev. dismissed, 574 So.2d 142 (Fla. 1990), that this statute waives confidentiality for the medical condition of a patient or information furnished by the patient to a health care provider only in the following situations:
1) when a health care provider is or reasonably expects to be named as a defendant in a medical malpractice action ( for that health care providers' [sic] records and information). . . .
Kirkland, 639 So.2d at 1004 (emphasis supplied). We do not claim to understand the source of the parenthetical expression which is not in the statute or in Franklin and which, again without discussion, resolves the present issue to the direct contrary of what the statute provides. Finally, in Richter, the second district compounded the error by merely copying the Kirkland language without comment or concern. 647 So.2d at 217. We find no difficulty in disagreeing with statements of the law which, like those in Kirkland and Richter, are justified only by iteration and repetition.
While resort to canons of statutory construction is probably unnecessary in light of what the statutory exception expressly provides, it is not irrelevant that the application of those rules leads to the same result:
1. Because the legislature is deemed to intend different meanings by the use of different words, Ocasio v. Bureau of Crimes Compensation Div. of Workers' Compensation, 408 So.2d 751 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); 49 Fla.Jur.2d Statutes § 133 (1984), the fact that it referred to a health care provider who is a potential defendant and to a health care practitioner to whom information had been given must mean that they are not the same person and that the exception to confidentiality therefore is not restricted to a case in which only that doctor is being sued.
2. More importantly, the statute must be strictly interpreted and exceptions to it broadly construed both because it is in derogation of the common law as expressed in Coralluzzo and Frantz, which impose no restrictions on the availability of this information, see Thornber v. City of Fort Walton Beach, 568 So.2d 914 (Fla. 1990); Graham v. Edwards, 472 So.2d 803 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), review denied, 482 So.2d 348 (1986), and because it erects a testimonial privilege which may "not [be] lightly created nor expansively construed, for [it is] in derogation of the search for truth." United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 710, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 3108, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039, 1065 (1974), quoted in Marshall v. Anderson, 459 So.2d 384, 386 n. 3 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984).
3. Even more significant, it is apodictic that:
A law should be construed together with any other law relating to the same purpose
such that they are in harmony.
Wakulla County v. Davis, 395 So.2d 540 (Fla. 1981);
Garner v. Ward, 251 So.2d 252 (Fla. 1971). Courts should avoid a construction which places in conflict statutes which cover the same general field.
Howarth v. City of Deland, 117 Fla. 692,
158 So. 294 (1934).
State Dep't of Revenue v. Stafford, 646 So.2d 803, 807 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994). In the malpractice field, the legislature has gone to great lengths to encourage the free flow and exchange of information during and even before the filing of suit in order to foster the disposition of these cases outside of court. See §§ 766.101-.316, Fla. Stat. (1993). There can be no doubt that this policy, particularly including the "informal discovery" provided by the statute, see § 766.106(7), Fla. Stat. (1993) — which was adopted almost simultaneously with the 1988 amendment to section 455.241, see Ch. 88-277, § 48, Laws of Fla. — would be severely subverted by a holding that the patient's treating doctor cannot even speak about his condition to potential malpractice defendants. Thus, it makes perfect sense for the legislature to provide, as we think it clearly did, that the privilege does not apply to those cases.
II.
Even applying the confidentiality provisions of section 455.241(2), we reach the same conclusion that the trial judge in Castillo-Plaza was wrong in precluding all ex parte discussions and that those in Pierre and Giron were at least not wrong in permitting those discussions on subjects not protected by the statute.
Two factors are preeminent in the consideration of the scope of the statutory privilege and the role, if any, that the trial courts should play in enforcing it. First, the treating physician, like any other witness or any other person, is free to speak with the defense or to decline to do so entirely as a voluntary matter. Second, he is precluded from doing so only insofar as that right is restricted by the statute. See Coralluzzo; Frantz. Particularly viewing them strictly as we are required, see Graham, 472 So.2d at 807; Marshall, 459 So.2d at 386-87, the terms of the statute confine the requirement of confidentiality to the "medical records" and the "medical condition" of the patient, including "information disclosed to [the doctor] . . . in the course of [his] care and treatment." They do not restrict communication concerning anything else — the issues in the case, hypothetical questions concerning other patients and their treatment, or, indeed, anything beyond what the statute actually says. Moreover, there is no restriction on the manner in which conversations or discussions as to the nonforbidden topics may be conducted. Thus, while Johnson, 615 So.2d at 257, was correct so far as it went in upholding a trial court order which authorized — because that was the only relief requested by the defendant hospital in that case — a so-called "one-way" conversation in which defense counsel was to inform the doctor of his theory of the case, voluntary "two-way" conversations on unprivileged subjects are likewise permissible.
Because this is true, it is error to preclude, as do Richter, Kirkland, and perhaps Franklin, all such conversations and contacts by restricting counsel to formal discovery. And we thoroughly disagree with the indication in these cases that the presence of the patient's attorney is required "to protect against the disclosure of privileged information." Richter, 647 So.2d at 217. We do so both because it is quite impermissible for the judiciary to restrict any communication beyond that which is forbidden by the legislature, and, of equal or greater importance, because there is no reason whatever to believe that any witness, including — perhaps particularly — a physician, will violate his statutory obligations by revealing privileged material unless a court prevents him from doing so. Whether we treat a protective order like the one in Castillo-Plaza as a pure injunction against communication or as an order in aid of discovery, see Humble Oil Ref. Co. v. Sun Oil Co., 175 F.2d 670 (5th Cir. 1949) (error to enjoin defendants from interfering with making of survey under discovery rules); Humble Oil Ref. Co. v. Harang, 262 F. Supp. 39 (E.D.La. 1966) (error to enjoin destruction of documents subject to production), it is settled law that no such restriction may be issued in the absence of a well grounded apprehension of injury to a clearly established right. See Humble Oil, 175 F.2d at 670; Humble Oil, 262 F. Supp. at 39; Crawford v. Bradford, 23 Fla. 404, 2 So. 782 (1887); State ex rel. Reynolds County v. Riden, 621 S.W.2d 366 (Mo. App. 1981); Hudson v. School Dist. of Kansas City, 578 S.W.2d 301 (Mo. App. 1979); St. Louis 221 Club v. Melbourne Hotel Corp., 227 S.W.2d 764 (Mo. App. 1950); Eckhardt v. Bock, 159 S.W.2d 395 (Mo. App. 1942); 29 Fla.Jur.2d Injunctions § 12 (1981). In this case there has been no such showing. With no more than anecdotes to support the claim, the plaintiffs suggest that treating doctors — who are free to decline to speak to counsel altogether — will, among other things, breach their duty to their patients, jeopardize their licenses, and expose themselves to personal liability, see Morris v. Consolidation Coal Co., 191 W. Va. 426, 446 S.E.2d 648 (1994), and cases collected at 16 Med.Liab.Rep. (MG-H) 299-301 (Dec. 1994), by violating the privilege — all supposedly out of feelings of camaraderie with their fellow physicians. We consider that such a claim amounts to no more than a baseless attack not only upon the good faith, but the good sense of the doctors in question. Moreover, because any such violation requires the connivance of counsel, the argument impugns our profession as well. We will not approve orders based on any such assumptions.
Of course, plaintiff's counsel is also free to inform the treating physician of this fact, as well as of the parameters of the statutory privilege. In fact, the likelihood that they have not done so or that the treating physicians in these very cases would now agree to talk to the defendants under any circumstances is so infinitesimal as a practical matter that these petitions might well be dismissed as moot.
For the same reason — and although the issue is not technically before us in the absence of cross-petitions by the defendants in the Giron and Pierre cases — we think the provisions of these orders which specifically forbid a violation of the statutory privilege are, at least, unnecessary and likely unwise. It is inappropriate — on the theory that it "can't hurt" — to order others simply to obey the law in the absence of any indication that they would otherwise fail to do so. Humble Oil, 175 F.2d at 670; Humble Oil, 262 F. Supp. at 39; see Dodge Center v. Superior Court, 199 Cal.App.3d 332, 244 Cal.Rptr. 789 (1988) (presumed that every person will obey the law); Bentley v. State, 411 So.2d 1361 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982) (same; probationer), review denied, 419 So.2d 1195 (Fla. 1982); Ramsey v. Mercer, 142 Ga. App. 827, 237 S.E.2d 450 (1977) (same); accord Crawford, 23 Fla. at 404, 2 So. at 782 (no jurisdiction to enjoin collection of personal tax where no ground for apprehending enforcement of collection); Tubular Threading, Inc. v. Scandaliato, 443 So.2d 712 (La. App. 1983) (injunction against using, selling, distributing or disseminating documents relating to trade secrets would not lie absent present or compelling need or threatened misappropriation); Hudson, 578 S.W.2d at 301 (injunction to restrain future violations of sunshine law where no proof that school board contemplated meetings in violation of statute inappropriate). In the absence of some extreme circumstances which do not exist in these cases, we think it inadvisable that there be any prospective court action at all in this field.
Moreover, the very existence of such an order may counter-productively imply to a physician to whom it is shown that the court is somehow authorizing or approving an ex parte discussion which the doctor is, in fact, entirely free to decline.
Ample remedies already exist if an actual violation of the privilege takes place. Morris, 191 W. Va. at 426, 446 S.E.2d at 648; Steinberg v. Jensen, 186 Wis.2d 237, 519 N.W.2d 753 (1994) (new trial ordered upon discovery of defense violation of privilege), review granted, 525 N.W.2d 732 (Wis. 1994); see § 458.331, Fla. Stat. (1993).
III.
For these reasons, certiorari is granted and the order under review in case number 94-1428 is quashed; in case numbers 94-1493 and 94-1675, certiorari is denied. We certify to the Supreme Court that this decision is in direct conflict with Kirkland v. Middleton, 639 So.2d 1002 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994), review dismissed, 645 So.2d 453 (Fla. 1994), and Richter v. Bagala, 647 So.2d 215 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994), review granted sub nom. Acosta v. Richter, 650 So.2d 989 (Fla. 1995).
In accordance with the views expressed in both parts of this opinion, however, the orders in these cases should be vacated after remand.
Certiorari granted in part, denied in part. Conflict certified.
HUBBART, NESBITT, COPE, LEVY, GERSTEN and GREEN, JJ., concur.