Aylstock v. Mayo Foundation
| Decision Date | 05 May 1972 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 2037. |
| Citation | 341 F. Supp. 560 |
| Parties | Ralph H. AYLSTOCK, Plaintiff, v. MAYO FOUNDATION, a/k/a Mayo Clinic, a Minnesota corporation, and Rochester Methodist Hospital, a Minnesota corporation, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Montana |
Loble, Picotte, Loble, Pauly & Sternhagen, Helena, Mont., for plaintiff.
Gough, Booth, Shanahan & Johnson, Helena, Mont., for defendants.
Stephanie Aylstock, a 14-year-old girl, drowned in a tub shower while she was a patient in the defendant Rochester Methodist Hospital (Hospital) under the care of Mayo Foundation (Mayo). This action charging negligence on the part of Hospital and Mayo was filed in the state courts in Montana and removed to this court. Defendants have moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction over the person. The court stayed discovery except as it related to jurisdiction.1 The parties took depositions and presented evidence in open court on the problem of jurisdiction.
From the evidence it appears that Mayo Foundation is a nonprofit corporation organized under the laws of Minnesota to engage in the business of medical treatment and research. It is basically the successor to the Mayo Clinic established by Drs. Charles and William Mayo. The doctors comprising the working staff of the foundation are employees. The doctors and all of the physical facilities of the clinic are located at Rochester, Minnesota, and all of Mayo business is done there.
The defendant Hospital is also a non-profit Minnesota corporation doing all of its business in Rochester. Actually, although the Hospital is a separate legal entity, its sole function is to serve the Mayo patients because it has a closed staff comprised exclusively of Mayo doctors and accepts only Mayo patients.
Mayo treats and Hospital admits patients from all over the world, including Montana, but neither Mayo nor Hospital have any physical facilities or personnel in Montana. Except under the kind of unusual circumstances found here, the only normal connection of Mayo or Hospital with Montana would be in the answering of inquiries and the making of hospital and doctor appointments for those residents of Montana who wish to be treated by Mayo in Rochester.
Dr. M. R. Wilson was, in December 1969, the chief of the Adolescent Psychiatric Unit at Mayo and a member of the staff of Hospital. In that month Dr. Wilson was advised that his mother was suffering from terminal cancer. He secured an emergency leave and came to Helena, Montana, to be with his mother. While in Helena he established an office in St. Peter's Cathedral. From the office he communicated with Mayo about his patients in Rochester and worked on a paper which he was authoring.
Dr. Wilson's business contacts with Montana during his stay in Helena were these: A Dr. Burgess had at that time a patient, Stephanie Aylstock, a disturbed child. Dr. Burgess was the physician attending Dr. Wilson's mother. Knowing that Dr. Wilson was a Mayo man and a psychiatrist, Dr. Burgess asked Dr. Wilson if he would see the Aylstocks about their problem. Dr. Wilson consented and Dr. Burgess made the appointment. During the appointment Dr. Wilson interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Aylstock and Stephanie. It is apparent from the evidence and Dr. Wilson's report to Dr. Burgess that these interviews were sufficient in depth to substitute for the interviews which would normally have been conducted of all three of the Aylstocks at Mayo in Rochester as a condition of Stephanie's being admitted as a patient in the Psychiatric Unit. During the course of the interview Dr. Wilson told the Aylstocks of the facilities at Mayo and recommended that Stephanie be hospitalized there or in some similar place. Later Dr. Larson, a psychiatrist who had treated Stephanie, called upon Dr. Wilson in his office and they discussed Stephanie and her...
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