Sanctions against health system demonstrate that it's time to get serious about audit trail discovery

Abstract

In the world of health care litigation it has become clear that medical malpractice cases now contain two claims—one on the medicine and one on the electronic health record (EHR). Two years of contentious discovery motions over the production of a complete copy of the EHR and audit trail in a case involving the delivery of a baby recently resulted in a nightmare scenario for a large health care system: sanctions in the form of an order entering judgment of liability in favor of the patient. The order was entered before depositions on the medicine were ever held. The decision in Prieto v. Rush University Medical Center (RUMC), et al. is the premiere example why patients’ lawyers are focused on the audit trail. In this case, they were able to secure a legal victory without even litigating the underlying facts of the case.