Jessica is the director of Health Information and Technology Services at General Hospital. At this facility, patient records are hybrid, made up of both electronic and paper components. The hospital was named as a defendant in a medical malpractice lawsuit by a former patient (ie, the plaintiff). The trial is scheduled for the next week. During the discovery process, the plaintiff’s health records and an incident report relative to the plaintiff’s hospital stay were obtained by the plaintiff’s attorney. The plaintiff’s attorney has made it clear that she intends to have the health records and the incident report admitted into evidence and, further, that metadata associated with the electronic portions of the plaintiff’s records will be sought.

1. What are the different types of evidence that exist? What type of evidence is the health record and the incident report?

2. What documentation is needed to get access to the information? Should Jessica review information on how the information was obtained by the attorney?

3. What is the likelihood of the plaintiff’s health records being admitted into evidence? On what legal theory do you rely on to support your answer?

4. What is the likelihood of the incident report being admitted into evidence? On what legal theory do you rely on to support your answer?

5. What is metadata? What type of information might the plaintiff’s attorney be looking for by seeking metadata associated with the electronic portions of the health records? What metadata might be used in this specific case?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 The different types of evidence that exist in this scenario include Documentary evidence This includes written documents such as the health records ... View the full answer