Reed Smith’s Life Sciences Legal Update blog discusses a recent decision by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio that may make it much harder for qui tam relators to rely upon stolen medical records or patient information in False Claims Act (“FCA”) whistleblower actions. In the decision, Cabotage v. Ohio Hospital for Psychiatry, No. 11-cv-50 (S.D. Ohio July 27, 2012), the district court held that a registered nurse was not permitted to support her allegations of FCA violations by relying on confidential protected health information that she surreptitiously removed from the hospital where she was employed.