emaining Time: 1 hour, 43 minutes, 45 seconds. uestion Completion Status: QUESTION 8 You are assistant counsel at El Centro Hospital (Hospital), located in a large metropolitan area in the state of Calizona. El Centro's head administrator for clinical affairs, Sharon Page, approached you about a recent occurrence in El Centro's emergency department (ED). According to Ms. Page, the police had brought in a man named Robert Rudolph after he had crashed his car into a light post. Nobody else was involved in the accident, but Rudolph appeared to be intoxicated and had a few scratches and bruises from the impact, although his airbags saved him from more severe injuries. Upon his arrival at the ED, the police told the emergency physician on staff that night, Dr. Pete Stork, that they picked up Rudolph on a suspected DUI and that they just wanted his blood alcohol level tested. They said Rudolph seemed fine, other than the fact that he appeared intoxicated and was acting-"out of it." Dr. Stork took note that Rudolph did not have any health insurance. He asked Rudolph if he was in pain (to which Rudolph shook his head) and whether he lost consciousness at all (to which Rudolph shrugged his shoulders). Dr. Stork then instructed the ED nurse to conduct the blood alcohol test and then discharge Rudolph to police custody. As Dr. Stork was moving on to the next patient, Rudolph asked Dr. Stork, "Hey, Doc, you work here, right? Can you tell my wife, Rochelle, I am here?" The police told Dr. Stork that they would take care of it and contact Rudolph's wife when they got to the station. Dr. Stork is employed by a group of emergency physicians that is under contract with El Centro Hospital to staff the Hospital's ED. The ED had adopted clinical practice guidelines that recommended routine EKG heart monitoring for any person brought in who may have experienced a loss of consciousness. Dr. Stork did not recommend EKG monitoring for Rudolph nor did he listen to Rudolph's heart. While Dr. Stork was with Rudolph, the ED staff received a call from a woman named Rochelle Rudolph, asking whether her husband Robert had been brought to the ED. She said he has a heart condition and was worried because he had never showed up after calling her to tell her he was on his way home from a night watching the game with some buddies. The ED staff person who answered the phone told Rochelle that she could not disclose any information about patients in the ED because of HIPAA and told Rochelle to call the police if she was concerned. The ED staff person never relayed the message to anyone else, including Dr. Stork. While in the police cruiser on the way to the station, Rudolph suffered a heart attack. It was later determined that when he crashed his car, he had been having a cardiac arrhythmia that caused him to lose consciousness and may have been exacerbated by his consumption of four glasses of beer that night. Question: Sharon Page wants to know your assessment of all the theories of Hospital's potential exposure to liability from the Rudolph incident, including the Hospital's potential defenses. TT TT Paragraph v Arial 3 (12pt) E ET