In Shelton v. Morehead Memorial Hospital, 318 N.C. 76, 347 S.E.2d 824 (1986), the North Carolina Supreme Court held that the scope of the privilege provided by G.S. 131E-95, which regulates discovery of information produced by medical review committees, is limited to information that is not "otherwise available," that is, available from a source other than the medical review committee itself. Shelton, 318 N.C. at 83, 347 S.E.2d at 829. The Shelton court observed: The statute [ 131E-95] protects only a medical review committee's: (1) proceedings; (2) records and materials it produces; (3) materials it considers. But the statute also provides: "Information, documents, or records otherwise available are not immune from discovery or use in a civil action merely because they were presented during proceedings of the committee. A member of the committee or a person who testifies before the committee may testify in a civil action but cannot be asked about his testimony before the committee or any opinions formed as a result of the committee hearings. [N.C. Gen. Stat. 131E-95.] These provisions mean that information, in whatever form available, from original sources other than the medical review committee is not immune from discovery or use at trial merely because it was presented during medical review committee proceedings; neither should one who is a member of a medical review committee be prevented from testifying regarding information he learned from sources other than the committee itself, even though that information might have been shared by the committee. The statute is designed to encourage candor and objectivity in the internal workings of medical review committees. Permitting access to information not generated by the committee itself but merely presented to it does not impinge on this statutory purpose. These kinds of materials may be discovered and used in evidence even though they were considered by the medical review committee. This part of the statute creates an exception to materials which would otherwise be immune under the third category of items as set out above. Shelton, 318 N.C. at 83-84, 347 S.E.2d at 829.