Her lawyers wanted to use inspection reports showing the home was cited for inadequate staffing and failure to prevent some residents from dehydration.
But the nursing home fought back, citing a disclaimer on the Health Department website saying inspection reports are "not intended to be evidence of compliance with any legal standard of care in third-party litigation."
Reporter Paul Van Osdol asked Highland Park Care Center attorney John Bass if he thought the disclaimer meant the inspections are not supposed to be used in lawsuits.
“Well that's how I read it. And that's what we have taken the position, absolutely,” Bass said.
That was a surprise to Scampone family attorney Peter Giglione.
“We were even more surprised later when we found out the circumstances surrounding how it came out,” Giglione said.
They learned the department began working on the disclaimer only after the nursing home industry's chief lobbyist -- Stuart Shapiro of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association -- sent an email to then-state health secretary Michael Wolf.