COA rules for providers on malpractice, negligence claims

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The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled in favor of several medical providers it found were entitled to summary judgment on claims of medical malpractice and negligence raised by a former patient.

In November 2012, Mindy Speaks was diagnosed with a very rapid heartbeat by Porter Hospital emergency physician Vishnuvardhan Rao. While in the emergency room, Rao ordered several doses of medication to slow Speaks’ heartbeat. When she was later transported from the ER to the hospital, Speaks was given an IV and diagnosed by Keith Atassi with proximal tachycardia, tobacco use disorder and a family history of blood disorder, among other things.

The next day, as a nurse removed Speaks’ IV in preparation for her release, the nurse noticed a long stringy clot that had attached itself to the catheter being withdrawn. Speaks returned to the ER five days later complaining of redness and swelling where her IV had been, and doctors ultimately concluded she had a blood clot at the IV site.

Speaks then filed a complaint with the Indiana Department of Insurance alleging Rao, Atassi, Porter Hospital, Unity Physicians and Indiana Physician Services were negligent in her evaluation and treatment during her stay.

A trial court granted partial summary judgment to the defendants on the issue of medical malpractice in October 2017. However, it interpreted Speaks’ third amended complaint to have asserted new claims of medical negligence that were independent of her claims for medical malpractice, and thus did not have to be supported by expert testimony regarding the standard of care and could proceed as claims of ordinary negligence.

On appeal, Speaks contested the trial court’s grant of summary judgment on the medical malpractice claim and the defendants cross-appealed the trial court’s denial of summary judgment on the issue of medical negligence.

The appellate court found that the defendants were entitled to summary judgment on the issues of medical malpractice and negligence on the basis that the trial court erred in denying their motion by sua sponte creating a distinction between Speaks’ claims of “medical negligence” and “medical malpractice.”

“To the extent that the trial court separates Speaks’ claim of ‘medical malpractice’ from her claim of ‘medical negligence,’ we emphasize that Indiana law does not recognize such a distinction. These terms are one in the same and our courts use these terms interchangeably for claims more properly referred to as medical malpractice — namely, those claims falling under the provisions of the Indiana Medical Malpractice Act,” Judge Margret Robb wrote for the court.

It further noted that Speaks’ claims sounded in malpractice, not ordinary negligence in Mindy (Engel) Speaks v. Vishnuvardhan Rao, D.O., Unity Physicians, Indiana Physician Services, LLC, Porter Hospital, Porter Hospital Pharmacy, and Keith Atassi, M.D.,18A-CT-131.

“It is uncontested that Speaks was a patient of the Defendants and the Defendants are qualified healthcare providers covered by the Act. However, the MMA is not all-inclusive as to claims against medical providers, and a claim against a medical provider sounding in ordinary negligence or premises liability rather than medical malpractice falls outside the procedural and substantive provisions of the MMA,” Robb continued.

Therefore, the appellate court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for the entry of summary judgment on Speaks’ negligence claims in favor of the defendants.

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