US State, Illinois Circuit Court, Cook County · 2022 · Evidence challenged
Prieto v. Rush University Medical Center
(Cook County, Ill. 2022)
What happened
The plaintiffs brought a medical malpractice claim arising from newborn hypoxic injury at Rush University Medical Center. Central to the case was the EMR audit trail for the delivery records. The hospital repeatedly failed to produce a complete, unaltered audit trail over a period of approximately three years of litigation, from January 2019 to January 2022. Judge James N. O'Hara conducted an on-site inspection and personally reviewed the hospital's electronic health record system. The inspection revealed that audit trail data had been withheld and misrepresented. The court entered a default finding of liability against the hospital, before depositions had been completed, citing the failure to comply with discovery obligations under HIPAA, HITECH Act information-blocking provisions and the Cures Act. The consequence was an eight-figure damages exposure resolved without the hospital ever presenting its substantive defence at trial.
Outcome
Default liability entered. Eight-figure damages exposure without trial.
Sources
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