## Facts

- Brenda Marie Rodgers was hospitalized at St. Mary’s Hospital of Decatur, gave birth, and died two days later.
- During her hospitalization, multiple X‑rays were taken.
- Illinois law required hospitals to retain patients’ X‑ray films for five years from the date of exposure.
- In a wrongful-death/medical-malpractice suit, the estate contended a particular X‑ray was important to proving negligence; by trial, that X‑ray was missing.
- While the malpractice case was pending, the estate filed a separate action alleging the hospital violated the X‑Ray Retention Act by failing to preserve all of Brenda’s X‑rays, impairing the estate’s ability to prove malpractice, especially against radiologists.
- In the malpractice case, the hospital obtained summary judgment; the estate did not appeal that judgment.
- The malpractice case proceeded against physicians: the jury awarded $1.2 million against obstetricians and found radiologists not liable; the estate later settled with the obstetricians for $800,000.
- The trial court dismissed the separate statutory “loss of X‑ray” complaint; the appellate court reversed.

## Issues

1. Whether the X‑Ray Retention Act implies a private cause of action for damages against a hospital that fails to retain a patient’s X‑ray films as required.
2. Whether the statutory claim is barred by the earlier malpractice litigation, including settlement with other defendants, failure to appeal the radiologists’ verdict, or res judicata based on the hospital’s summary judgment in the malpractice action.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court and allowed the statutory action to proceed.
- The court held the complaint stated a valid implied private cause of action under the X‑Ray Retention Act.
- The court interpreted the statute to require retention of all X‑rays taken, not merely some of them.
- The court held the statutory claim was not barred by the settlement, litigation choices in the malpractice case, or res judicata.

## Legal Principles

- Illinois courts may imply a private right of action from a statute when the plaintiff is within the protected class, a civil remedy advances the statute’s purpose, and the remedy is consistent with the statutory scheme.
- The X‑Ray Retention Act’s retention duty requires a hospital to preserve all patient X‑ray films for the statutory period.
- Under Illinois claim preclusion (transactional approach), res judicata applies only when the later claim arises from the same transaction or occurrence and the same operative facts are essential to both claims.
- A statutory claim based on post-treatment loss of required medical records can constitute a distinct injury from the underlying malpractice claim and is not necessarily merged into the malpractice judgment.

## Conclusion

The court recognized an implied damages remedy for violation of Illinois’s X‑Ray Retention Act and held that a post-treatment record-retention claim alleging impairment of a malpractice case is not barred by settlement or by res judicata arising from prior malpractice litigation involving different operative facts.


Rodgers v. St. Mary's Hosp. of Decatur, 597 N.E.2d 616 (Ill. 1992)