Can I sue a hospital for allowing a nurse to access my medical file, alter it, and use it in court?

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Can I sue a hospital for allowing a nurse to access my medical file, alter it, and use it in court?

It has already admitted in writing that they are sorry for letting my records be compromised. A nurse who works with them went into my medical record file alter them by claiming I attended some

appointment and confessed terrible things causing me to lose visitation with my 3 daughters and the

nurse being able to get a restraining order based only on the false appointment. Due to that false

document its caused me to be arrested numerous time just to have the drop or dismiss the cases. The hospital sent me a letter admitting fault after I filed a complaint and apologized to me for the false

document and told me it has been removed from my files. Yet, the nurse just used the false

appointment to obtain a renewal of the restraining order. Can the hospital be held responsible?

Asked on November 6, 2017 under Malpractice Law, California

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 6 years ago | Contributor

No, the hosptial is not liable. An employer is liable for what its employees do within the scope of their employment: for acts flowing out of what they are hired to do. But what this nurse did was criminal, and certainly far beyond the scope of employment: it is not a nurse's job to falsify records, defame people, and help people commit fraud in court. Because this was criminal and outside the scope of employment, the hospital is not liable. The nurse wojld be liable, however: you could certainly sue her.


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