In this medical malpractice and wrongful death case, the plaintiffs, Howard Ehrlich,1 Barbara Woods, and Kenneth Ehrlich, the surviving children of the decedent, Francine Ehrlich, sued the Emeritus Corporation, the owners of the nursing home where the decedent lived for four months before succumbing to complications from an infected sacral decubitus ulcer in November 2008 hereinafter, “the nursing home”. The plaintiffs also sued Tender Loving Health Care Services of Georgia, LLC, d/b/a Staff Builders Home Health, a home health care company that supplied skilled nurses to monitor and care for the decedent at the nursing home after she developed the ulcer hereinafter, “Staff Builders”. The defendants jointly appeal from the Superior Court of Fulton County’s January 26, 2011 order denying their joint motion for a qualified protective order “QPO” that would have allowed their attorneys to conduct ex parte interviews of the decedent’s treating healthcare providers without the plaintiffs’ permission.2 They also appeal from the court’s January 31, 2011 order denying their motion in the alternative, which asked the court to prohibit the plaintiffs from conducting ex parte interviews of those same healthcare providers. The defendants contend that the court’s denial of their motions violated their constitutional rights to equal protection and due process. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court’s orders.
The plaintiffs’ complaint contains the following relevant allegations.3 In July 2008, the 88-year-old decedent began residing at the nursing home. At that time, she had a history of Alzheimer’s disease with mild dementia and needed assistance with routine daily activities, but she was able to walk around with the help of a walker and did not have any decubitis ulcers pressure wounds. On or about August 28, however, a nursing home employee noticed a pressure wound on the decedent’s right buttock “the wound”. At the request of the decedent’s daughter, the decedent was transported to Northside Hospital on September 2, and a physician examined and treated the wound before releasing the decedent. Two days later, Staff Builders began providing skilled nurses to monitor and care for the wound at the nursing home. From September 4 until October 31, the wound became much larger, deeper, and infected, while the decedent’s mental and physical status seriously declined.
