Justices to hear arguments in med-mal case over hepatitis misdiagnosis

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The Indiana Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in a case brought by a woman who was incorrectly told a hepatitis test was negative when the test revealed she was, in fact, hepatitis positive.

The justices unanimously voted to grant transfer to the case of Teresa Blackford v. Welborn Clinic, 21S-CT-85.

Teresa Blackford sued the Welborn Clinic in Vanderburgh Circuit Court after learning in 2014 that she was positive for Hepatitis C. Blackford was testified for hepatitis at the Welborn Clinic in 2003 and told her result was negative, but she learned in 2014 that her test had actually been positive.

The trial court granted summary judgment for Welborn in a medical malpractice action but the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed, reinstating the case on the grounds that the clinic “fraudulently concealed – at the least, passively; at the worst, actively – material medical information from Blackford.”

Judge Elaine Brown dissented from the COA majority.

Arguments before the Indiana Supreme Court in Blackford have not yet been scheduled.

The justices last week also granted transfer to City of Bloomington Board of Zoning Appeals v. UJ-Eighty Corporation, 21S-PL-77, handing down a decision in favor of the city of Bloomington in a zoning dispute over a former Indiana University fraternity house.

The justices denied transfer to 22 cases for the week ending Feb. 26, voting unanimously in 19 of those cases. In three cases — Camron Douglas Perkins v. State of Indiana; CHINS: N.D., et al. v. Indiana Department of Child Services; and Santos Cortez, et al. v. Indiana University Health, Inc., et al. — at least one justice dissented.

The full list of transfer actions for the week ending Feb. 26 can be found here.

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