From 'Reginelli' to 'Leadbitter': The Evolution of the Peer Review Protection Act
Confidentiality (or lack thereof) of documents submitted to or generated by patient safety, peer review, and credentialing committees has long been a question pondered by the courts in connection with discovery conducted in medical malpractice cases.
March 28, 2022 at 11:46 AM
8 minute read
Imagine yourself as a hospital administrator. You are made aware of an incident where a patient who has undergone surgery was administered an inappropriate medication intra-operatively. As a result of this error, the patient suffered a cardiac arrest, resulting in severe injuries. Hospital staff and administration question what happened. Was there an order for this inappropriate medication? If so, who ordered it and why? Was the medication mislabeled? Was the patient's allergy list consulted beforehand? In the hospital's pursuit of quality improvement, they ask someone from the OR staff to complete an event report in the hospital's online event reporting system (ERS). The event report is then submitted to the hospital's patient safety organization (PSO). The hospital PSO performs a root cause analysis (RCA) of the event and makes recommendations as to how such an error can be avoided in the future. Certain documents from the peer-review process are placed in the surgeon's credentialing file at the hospital. Two years later, the patient files a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital and the surgeon alleging negligence in connection with this medication error. Discovery commences and questions arise as to what, if any, of these documents, reports, submissions, reviews and analysis are privileged and protected. Is anything discoverable by plaintiffs counsel? Is all of it discoverable?
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