Reporting Patient-Safety Concerns and Facing Retaliation

A concern about patient care should be described with enough precision to be evaluated: the practice involved, the risk identified, when it occurred and the person or office notified.

Connect the concern to a standard

In Hitesman v. Bridgeway, Inc., 218 N.J. 8 (2014), the Supreme Court required an adequate connection between the alleged wrongdoing and an applicable source supplying a standard. General ethical aspirations or an employer’s broad promises about care may be insufficient.

For a consultation, identify any regulation, clinical standard or other authority you relied on. You do not need to prepare a legal brief. Explain the facts and provide the source if you know it; counsel must determine whether it supports the claim.

Keep the reporting record clear

Record when you raised the concern, how management responded and what happened afterward. Distinguish the patient-care event from later employment events such as a changed assignment, criticism or discipline.

Do not put patient names or clinical records into an initial website submission. Counsel can discuss appropriate evidence handling and the relationship between employment advice and any separate reporting obligation.

Review both sides of the dispute

An employer may say it acted because of clinical performance or conduct. A useful review considers that explanation, earlier records and any changes after the safety report.

Learn about physician and healthcare representation or prepare for a consultation.