NJ court says hospitals can keep internal error reviews private
By Anne Zieger | October 1, 2014
Dive Brief:
A New Jersey Supreme Court ruling has concluded that hospitals’ internal review reports written after adverse events occur should remain private.
The ruling relies on the 2004 Patient Safety Act, which protects healthcare worker confidentiality in an effort to let them be more candid when errors are made.
The ruling allows Valley Hospital of Ridgewood, NJ to keep a memo to itself that was written after events that led to allegations in a medical malpractice case.
Dive Insight:
According to the court, there is abundant reason to protect these privacy privileges. In its ruling, it noted that the legislators who drafted the Patient Safety Act had created an “absolute privilege,” bearing in mind that “healthcare professionals and other provider staff are more likely to effectively assess adverse events in a confidential setting, in which an employee need not fear recrimination for disclosing his or her own medical error, or that of a colleague.”
https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/nj-court-says-hospitals-can-keep-internal-error-reviews-private/315443/