Nursing homes frequently cite regulations from the Federal Nursing Home Reform Act and the Pennsylvania Peer Review Protection Act in order to prevent access to certain documents from plaintiffs. However, recent cases have narrowed what documents are privileged under the Pennsylvania Peer Review Protection Act.

In 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Reginelli v. Boggs notably limited the scope of protection for peer reviewed documents.  Since then, Pennsylvania lower courts have made decisions on the behalf of individual plaintiffs that have increasingly given access to documents and investigations formerly understood to be privileged and not discoverable.  

The opinion in the Ungurian case upheld that in certain circumstances, event reports, serious safety event meeting summaries, minutes from patient safety committee meetings, root cause analysis reports, and quality improvement staff peer reviews were discoverable. 

Notably, it is very unlikely that a nursing home will turn over an incident report willingly. Usually, you will need to hire a Pennsylvania nursing home injury lawyer to file a lawsuit on your behalf before the facility will produce incident report.  

The nursing home neglect attorneys at the Wieand Law Firm are familiar with recent case outcomes that impact the discoverability of incident reports and other important documents that may support your loved one’s case against a neglectful nursing home. We routinely are able to obtain incident reports and as well as other critical evidence concerning injuries and wrongful death that nursing home facilities conceal from the residents and their family members.