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The Indiana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Sept. 25 in a case involving the granting of COVID-emergency statutory immunity for medical providers against a patient who developed severe bedsores during his hospital stay.
The court will hear the case Shantel Waggoner, Individually and as Executrix of the Estate of Elmer Gordon Waggoner v. Anonymous Health System, Inc., et al., 24A-CT-469 at 10 a.m. in the Supreme Court Courtroom inside the Indiana Statehouse.
In 2022, Elmer Gordon Waggoner contracted COVID-19 and, while hospitalized, developed severe bedsores. During his hospital stay, Gov. Eric Holcomb rescinded the state’s COVID health emergency order that provided immunity from liability.
Elmer developed sepsis from the bedsores and died. His estate then filed a proposed medical malpractice complaint against the medical providers who treated his wound.
The medical providers moved for summary judgment, arguing it was statutorily immune from liability because it provided medical care to Elmer during a COVID-19 emergency and he died while hospitalized from a complication derived from COVD.
The Vanderburgh Superior Court granted summary judgment to the defendants and ordered the dismissal of Waggoner’s complaint.
On appeal, Waggoner’s estate argued that the trial court erred in addressing issues that should be reserved for a medical review panel. The Court of Appeals agreed, reversing the trial court’s judgment.
The medical providers have now petitioned the state’s high court to hear the case.
Earlier on Sept. 28, high court also will hear Lamenski Ewing v. State of Indiana, 24A-CR-01721, the case of a man whose community corrections placement was revoked after he failed to return to detention while on work release and disappeared for almost seven months, according to court documents.
While the state of Indiana filed a motion to revoke his placement, it did not file a petition to revoke his probation sentence.
The Vanderburgh Circuit Court revoked his placement and ordered him to serve the rest of his sentence in the Department of Correction. Ewing appealed the trial court’s decision to the Court of Appeals, claiming that the state failed to provide him with notice, violating his due process rights.
The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s decision, stating it did not abuse its discretion when it imposed the suspended portion of Ewing’s sentence.
Ewing has petitioned the Indiana Supreme Court to assume jurisdiction over his appeal under the argument that the trial court violated his due process rights.
The oral arguments can be viewed online.
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