Court Opinion

ID: 9705974
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:28:36.263524+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:18.084693
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE MYERSCOUGH, dissenting: I respectfully dissent and would reverse the trial court. Section 250.250 of Title 77 of Administrative Code states in pertinent part, as follows: “(c) No visitor shall knowingly be admitted who has a known infectious disease, who has recently recovered from such a disease, or who has recently had contact with such a disease.” 77 Ill. Adm. Code § 250.250(c) (Conway Greene CD-ROM April 2001). In the instant case, plaintiff alleged in her complaint that defendant had intentionally discharged her in retaliation for her reporting the emergency-room staff who permitted an individual who was infected with HIV to loiter in and around the emergency room. Plaintiff then listed several statutes and regulations, including Title 77, section 250.250, of the Administrative Code, to support her claim that such a discharge violates clearly mandated public policy. Because allowing an HIV-positive patient to loiter in and around the emergency room clearly violates the above regulation, plaintiff pleaded a cause of action for retaliatory discharge. I further disagree with the trial court’s conclusion that the recording of incorrect triage time does not have “any impact on the care of patients” and defendant’s discharge of plaintiff based on her reporting of the incorrect patients’ records affects “no public policy.” In her complaint, plaintiff stated several public policies that were implicated by the alleged retaliatory discharge: (1) section 6.17(a) of the Licensing Act, which provides that hospitals must develop medical records for all patients (210 ILCS 85/6.17(a) (West 2002)) and (2) certain portions of part 250 of Title 77 of the Administrative Code, which provide that (a) accurate medical records shall be maintained on all patients and (b) the minimum requirements for medical record content are patient identification and admission information (77 Ill. Adm. Code §§ 250.720, 250.980, 250.1510 (Conway Greene CD-ROM April 2001)). The majority is correct in pointing out the above provisions do not specifically include triage time as an element that must be included in patients’ medical records. However, hospital staffs’ recording of erroneous triage times certainly violates the requirement of Title 77, part 250, of the Administrative Code that appropriate and accurate medical record should be established for all patients. Further, such erroneous recording certainly has impact on the care of patients. Defendant’s alleged retaliatory discharge of plaintiff based on such reporting, therefore, violates a clearly mandated public policy. For the above reasons, the trial court erred in dismissing plaintiff’s complaint, and I would reverse.