DeBoer v. Senior Bridges of Sparks Family Hosp., Inc., 57107.

• Citation: 282 P.3d 727,128 Nev. Adv. Op. 38
• Decision Date: 09 August 2012
• Docket Number: No. 57107.,57107.
• Parties: Susan DeBOER, in her Capacity as the Legal Guardian of Gayle Savage, an Adult Ward, Appellant, v. SENIOR BRIDGES OF SPARKS FAMILY HOSPITAL, INC., d/b/a Northern Nevada Medical Center, a Domestic Corporation, Respondent.
• Court: Supreme Court of Nevada

282 P.3d 727

128 Nev. Adv. Op. 38

Susan DeBOER, in her Capacity as the Legal Guardian of Gayle Savage, an Adult Ward, Appellant,

v.SENIOR BRIDGES OF SPARKS FAMILY HOSPITAL, INC., d/b/a Northern Nevada Medical Center, a Domestic Corporation, Respondent.

No. 57107.

Supreme Court of Nevada.

Aug. 9, 2012.

Bradley Drendel & Jeanney and Joseph S. Bradley, Reno, for Appellant.

Hall Prangle & Schoonveld, LLC, and Tyler M. Crawford and David P. Ferrainolo, Las Vegas, for Respondent.

Before CHERRY, C.J., PICKERING and HARDESTY, JJ.

OPINION

By the Court, CHERRY, C.J.:

In this appeal, we examine the duty of care owed by a medical facility when performing nonmedical functions. While we have embraced the duty owed by a medical facility towards its patients with respect to medical treatment, see Wickliffe v. Sunrise Hospital, 101 Nev. 542, 548, 706 P.2d 1383, 1388 (1985) (holding “that a hospital is required to employ that degree of skill and care expected of a reasonably competent hospital in the same or similar circumstances”), we have not previously addressed whether a medical facility has a duty of care beyond the duty to provide competent medical care. We take this opportunity to recognize that when a medical facility performs a nonmedical function, general negligence standards apply, such that the medical facility has a duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid foreseeable harm as a result of its actions.

Here, the complaint alleged that appellant, a cognitively impaired patient who required a guardian to make medical and financial decisions for her, was exploited by a third party after a social worker employed by the respondent medical facility provided the third party with a preprinted general power-of-attorney form, which the patient subsequently executed in furtherance of her discharge from the facility. The manner in which the medical facility allegedly effectuated the discharge of the patient could lead a reasonable jury to find that the patient's financial injuries were a foreseeable result of the facility's conduct. Thus, the district court erred when it found that the medical facility owed the patient no duty beyond the duty to provide competent medical care and dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. Accordingly, we reverse the order dismissing this action and remand this case to the district court for further proceedings.

FACTS

Gayle Savage ¹ was admitted to respondent Senior Bridges of Sparks Family Hospital, Inc., d.b.a. Northern Nevada Medical Center, after being discovered confused and wandering in a neighbor's backyard. Senior Bridges, Savage's complaint alleged, is an acute care facility specializing in the evaluation, treatment, and placement of elderly patients. Upon entering Senior Bridges, Savage apparently was diagnosed with mild to moderate dementia as a result of Alzheimer's disease. Because of Savage's condition, her doctor concluded that she needed a guardian to make medical and financial decisions for her.

One week after Savage's admission, a Senior Bridges social worker met with an individual identified as Peggy Violat Six, who offered to care for Savage upon her discharge from Senior Bridges on the condition that Savage execute a general power of attorney designating Six as her appointee for financial matters. Thereafter, Savage alleges, the Senior Bridges social worker provided Savage with a preprinted general power-of-attorney form, which Savage executed, ostensibly giving Six power over Savage's personal and financial affairs. A notary public employed by Senior Bridges purportedly verified Savage's execution and acknowledgment of the general power-of-attorney form. Savage was subsequently discharged by Senior Bridges into the care of Six, who allegedly proceeded to exploit Savage by misappropriating her money, real property, and other assets.

Based on Six's alleged exploitation of Savage, the Washoe County Public Guardian, in her capacity as legal guardian of Savage, filed a complaint against Senior Bridges for negligence. The complaint asserted that Senior Bridges breached its duty of care by allowing Savage to assign a general power of attorney in favor of Six, when a reasonable investigation would have established that Savage lacked the requisite mental competence to execute a power of attorney or to protect herself from exploitation.

In response, Senior Bridges filed a motion to dismiss the complaint under NRCP 12(b)(5) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, contending that it did not have a duty to protect Savage from financial exploitation by a third party because, as a medical facility, its duty was limited to providing Savage with appropriate medical services and competent medical care. Savage opposed the motion, arguing that Senior Bridges had a duty to protect her from foreseeable harm of the type that she suffered. Alternatively, Savage asserted that Senior Bridges assumed a duty to protect her by facilitating her execution of the power-of-attorney form.

The district court granted Senior Bridges' motion to dismiss, finding that Senior Bridges did not owe Savage a duty of care beyond the duty to provide competent medical care, and asserting that it would be fundamentally unfair to hold a medical facility liable for damages resulting from actions that occurred outside the scope of the healthcare-based relationship. Moreover, the court concluded that the harm of financial exploitation was not so “necessarily foreseeable” as to warrant imposing a duty of care on Senior Bridges in this case. Finally, the court expressed concern that recognizing a duty to assist patients with financial planning decisions would require medical facilities to employ financial planning experts and could potentially open the floodgates of litigation.² This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

This court rigorously reviews de novo a district court order granting an NRCP 12(b)(5) motion to dismiss, accepting all of the plaintiffs factual allegations as true and drawing every reasonable inference in the plaintiff's favor to determine whether the allegations are sufficient to state a claim for relief. Sanchez v. Wal–Mart Stores, 125 Nev. 818, 823, 221 P.3d 1276, 1280 (2009); Shoen v. SAC Holding Corp., 122 Nev. 621, 634–35, 137 P.3d 1171, 1180 (2006). A complaint should be dismissed for failure to state a claim “only if it appears beyond a doubt that it could prove no set of facts, which, if true, would entitle it to relief.” Buzz Stew, LLC v. City of N. Las Vegas, 124 Nev. 224, 228, 181 P.3d 670, 672 (2008).

Savage contends that Senior Bridges owed her a duty of care beyond the duty to provide competent medical care. In particular, she claims that the social worker employed by the facility failed to exercise due care when he helped her arrange her financial affairs in furtherance of her discharge. Senior Bridges acknowledges that it owed Savage a duty of reasonable care in the treatment of her medical conditions, but argues that it did not owe Savage a duty to protect her against third-party financial exploitation.³

The district court, quoting Wickliffe v. Sunrise Hospital, 101 Nev. 542, 548, 706 P.2d 1383, 1388 (1985), found that Senior Bridges was required to employ “the ‘degree of skill and care expected of a reasonably competent hospital in the same or similar circumstances' ” in diagnosing and treating Savage's cognitive impairments, but had no duty to assist Savage with financial decisions prior to discharge. In doing so, the district court narrowly circumscribed the legal duty that Senior Bridges owed to Savage. The district court effectively furnished Senior Bridges with full immunity from claims stemming from nonmedical injuries on its premises. This is not sound policy and does not conform to our negligence jurisprudence. See generally Moody v. Manny's Auto Repair, 110 Nev. 320, 333, 871 P.2d 935, 943 (1994) (holding, in the context of landowner liability, that “all persons in this society have an obligation to act reasonably and ... should be held to the general duty of reasonable care when another is injured”). Immunity from liability cannot be enjoyed simply due to one's legal status. Wright v. Schum, 105 Nev. 611, 613–14, 781 P.2d 1142, 1143 (1989). Thus, a healthcare-based corporation's status as a medical facility cannot shield it from other forms of tort liability when it acts outside of the scope of medicine. Instead, we establish that medical facilities should be required to conform to normal standards of reasonableness under general principles of tort law when performing nonmedical functions. Courts in other jurisdictions, including Connecticut, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, and Tennessee, have developed a similar standard. See, e.g., Gold v. Greenwich Hosp. Ass'n, 262 Conn. 248, 811 A.2d 1266, 1270 (2002) (claim was not characterized under ordinary negligence principles because it involved medical diagnosis and judgment); Coleman v. Deno, 813 So.2d 303, 315 (La.2002) (claims against a healthcare facility not arising in medical malpractice are governed by general tort law); Dorris v. Detroit Osteopathic Hosp., 460 Mich. 26, 594 N.W.2d 455, 465 (1999) (ordinary negligence claims “raise issues that are within the common knowledge and experience of the jury,” whereas medical malpractice claims “raise questions involving medical judgment”); Weiner v. Lenox Hill Hospital, 88 N.Y.2d 784, 650 N.Y.S.2d 629, 673 N.E.2d 914, 916 (1996) (“[W]hen ‘the gravamen of the complaint is not negligence in furnishing medical treatment to a patient, but the hospital's failure in fulfilling a different duty,’ the claim sounds in negligence.” (quoting Bleiler v. Bodnar, 65 N.Y.2d 65, 489 N.Y.S.2d 885, 479 N.E.2d 230, 235 (1985))); Estate of French v. Stratford House, 333 S.W.3d 546, 556 (Tenn.2011) (claims sound in ordinary negligence when the act or omission complained of requires no specialized medical skills).

Aside from the wide range of medical services...