EID v. Loyola Univ. Med. Ctr. — Feb. 2017 (Summary)

PEER REVIEW PRIVILEGE

EID v. Loyola Univ. Med. Ctr.
No. 1-14-3967 (Ill. App. Ct. Feb. 24, 2017)

The Appellate Court of Illinois for the First District upheld a lower court’s determination that the Illinois Medical Studies Act privilege applied to documentation generated by a hospital’s risk manager who had been directed by the hospital’s chief medical officer, a member of the hospital’s Medical Care Evaluation and Analysis Committee (“MCEAC”), to investigate a patient care incident on behalf of the MCEAC.

After being sued for medical negligence and reckless infliction of emotional distress stemming from the death of a toddler, the hospital refused to produce 13 pages of documents pertaining to the incident that had been generated by the hospital’s risk manager, arguing that because the documentation had been generated on behalf of the MCEAC, a peer review committee that reviews deaths in the efforts to reduce morbidity and mortality, it was privileged under the Medical Studies Act. The court upheld the lower court’s decision that the Act’s privilege covered the disputed documents because the information gathered was part of a peer review study covered by the Act. The court noted that the hospital’s bylaws authorized the chief medical officer of the hospital to begin a peer review investigation and the hospital provided affidavits which established that the risk manager reported the information resulting from her investigation to the chief medical officer and another member of the MCEAC for presentation to the full MCEAC.

As such, because the information contributed to the MCEAC’s deliberation, was considered prior to the conclusion of the MCEAC’s review, and fell within the scope of the Medical Studies Act, the court held that the 13 pages of documents were privileged under the Medical Studies Act.