Davenport v

Kutner, 182 Ga. App. 467, 356 S.E.2d 67, rev’d on other grounds, 257 Ga. 456, 360 S.E.2d 586 (1987). 355 Failure of a medical review committee to strictly adhere to bylaws does not strip the committee of the protection of confidentiality otherwise afforded by O.C.G.A. § 31-7-143. Patton v. St. Francis Hosp., 246 Ga. App. 4, 539 S.E.2d 526 (2000). Surgical conference organized by a hospital’s chief of staff pursuant to written bylaws for the purpose, in part, to evaluate and improve the quality of health care rendered by members of the 31-7-141 vascular surgery staff and to otherwise critique the performance of individual doctors in cases involving that area of medicine, which functioned as an initial, rather than determinative, step in the hospital’s peer review process, was a medical review committee entitled to the confidentiality and privileges of O.C.G.A. § 31-7-143. Poulnott v.