In A Case Of First Impression, A Connecticut Trial Court Rules That Investigation Materials Were Privileged Under The Patient Safety And Quality Improvement Act And State Laws

• Jurisdiction: Connecticut,United States,Federal
• Law Firm: Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Disclosure & Electronic Discovery & Privilege, Trials & Appeals & Compensation
• Author: Mr Michael Callahan
• Published date: 02 May 2023

On March 31, a Superior Court in Connecticut issued a decision in which a Hospital's motion for a protective order was granted on the basis that documents demanded by the plaintiff who was injured at the Hospital were privileged under both the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (PSQIA) and Connecticut statutes.

I. Trial Court's Discussion and Analysis

A. Background

The plaintiff in this lawsuit was accidentally injured when resisting efforts by the Hospital's Protective Services Officers to address his threatening and aggressive behavior when attempting to remove a woman from the Emergency Room. He also was arrested by the local police department. It was later determined that the woman was his girlfriend. The lawsuit against the Hospital alleged assault and battery, negligence, negligent training and supervision and unlawful and forcible detention leading to false arrest.

During discovery, the plaintiff noticed up the deposition of the Hospital's Patient Safety Coordinator and requested that she produce "[a]ny and all records (including any written reports, videos, email communications, interoffice memos concerning said incident, etc.) ... wherein [Plaintiff] was injured and subsequently arrested." In response, the Hospital filed a motion for a protective order. In the motion, the Hospital argued that the materials requested were created within its patient safety evaluation system (PSES) as part of an investigation into the incident. Moreover, the documents were reported to its contracted patient safety organization (PSO) and therefore were privileged under the PSQIA and Connecticut statutes. The plaintiff opposed the motion arguing that both statutes only applied to the peer review process in medical malpractice lawsuits and did not apply to the causes of action in his civil complaint.

B. Documents Were Privileged Under Both the PSQIA and Connecticut Statutes

In the court's rather lengthy opinion granting the Hospital's motion to compel, it relied heavily on the Illinois Appellate Court decision in Daley v. Teruel, 2018 IL. App (1st) 170891, 107 N.E.3d 1028, and the court's description and analysis of the scope and application of PSQIA privilege protections. In Daley, the Appellate Court held that incident and similar reports created within a hospital's PSES and reported to a PSO were privileged patient safety work product (PSWP) in a medical malpractice action.

Critical to the trial court's analysis were the unrebutted representations...