PRIVILEGE – QUALITY ASSURANCE

Strini v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp., No. 05-CV-440 (N.D.N.Y. Dec. 19, 2006)

The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York granted a protective order to a hospital precluding the disclosure of several pages of records generated by its infection control and patient safety and quality improvement committees. In this case, the patient suffered complications following valve replacement surgery, eventually causing him to have the valve removed. The removed valve was found to be contaminated with mycobacterium. The patient sued the manufacturer of the valve and, during the course of the lawsuit, both the patient and the manufacturer sought to compel the hospital to provide the records generated by the infection control and patient safety and quality improvement committees after their review of the valve contamination. The court held that the records were protected under a state law pertaining to quality assurance records, noting that the records had been prepared as part of the hospital’s infection control and quality assurance programs.