Patient-13

Newborn baby was injured in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), leading to cardiac arrest and permanent developmental damage. Sunrise Hospital attorneys resisted efforts to depose Jeffrey Murawsky (Chief Medical Officer)

This case involved a lawsuit filed by Tiffiny Grace, on behalf of her baby, E.G., against Sunrise Hospital.

Newborn patient, E.G., was born prematurely at Sunrise Hospital on January 8, 2018. Sunrise's medical team placed him in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit due to complications from the premature birth.

On February 27, 2018, his assigned nurse, Cord Olsen, changed his fluid lines.

Shortly thereafter, E.G. decompensated, his oxygen levels and heart rate plummeted, and his skin splotched with discolorations.

He entered into cardiac arrest, and medical staff rushed to save him.

E.G. ultimately suffered a hypoxic event, leading to permanent developmental damage.

A lawsuit was initiated against Sunrise Hospital due to injury and permanent developmental damage to baby E.G.

The following facts briefly mention Sunrise Hospital's strategy to try to avoid having Dr, Jeffrey Murawsky, Chief Medical Officer at Sunrise Hospital and the chair of the Patient Safety Committee, answer certain questions during his deposition. For more details, read the Nevada Supreme Court ruling.

Sunrise has a Patient Safety Committee, which investigated E.G.'s cardiac arrest with the goal of improving future healthcare outcomes. Dr. Jeffrey Murawsky, the Chief Medical Officer of Sunrise, chaired the committee. His deposition testimony revealed that Sunrise used a patient safety evaluation system as its internal process for collecting, managing, and analyzing the information that it reported to the patient safety organization. The Patient Safety Committee reviewed that information, collected additional data, and maintained that data within its internal evaluation system.

Real party in interest Tiffiny Grace, E.G.'s legal guardian, sued Sunrise Hospital and Nurse Olsen for professional negligence. During discovery, she attempted to depose Dr. Murawsky. She sought to discover what information the Patient Safety Committee examined in its investigation. Sunrise objected to some of the questions Grace posed on the basis of privileges under both Nevada law and the PSQIA. Grace halted the deposition, citing the need for answers to those questions. She then moved to compel further deposition testimony from Dr. Murawsky.

Plaintiffs' attorneys filed a Motion to Compel the testimony of Dr. Murkawsky, and the issue proceeded through the legal process.

The Nevada Supreme Court issued their ruling on March 7, 2024, directing the district court to reconsider the motion to compel in light of this opinion.

Note: The case of baby E.G. happened at Sunrise Hospital in 2018. Dr. Murawsky left his position as Chief Medical Officer at Sunrise Hospital in 2020 and assumed a new position on August 4, 2020, as Chief Medical Director at SilverSummit Healthplan, based on the press release. In 2021, he changed jobs again. He was named as Chief Medical Officer at HCA Healthcare's Far West Division.