Hill v. Jackson Park Hospital
| Citation | 39 Ill.App.3d 223,349 N.E.2d 541 |
| Decision Date | 26 May 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 61670,61670 |
| Parties | Michael J. HILL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. JACKSON PARK HOSPITAL, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Arthur R. Waddy, Chicago, for plaintiff-appellant.
Hugh L. Moore, of Lord, Bissell & Brook, Chicago, for defendant-appellee.
The plaintiff, Michael J. Hill, appeals from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Cook County dismissing his complaint against the defendant, Jackson Park Hospital, for injuries allegedly incurred as a result of contracting serum blood hepatitis from a transfusion he received while a patient.
The issue on appeal is whether Section 181 Se seq. of Chapter 91 of the Illinois Revised Statutes which prohibits an action in strict tort liability resulting from the furnishing and using of human blood violates the special or local law prohibition of Article IV, Section 13 of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, or violates the equal protection clauses of the Illinois and Federal Constitutions.
Michael Hill alleged in his complaint filed on March 11, 1974, that he contracted serum hepatitis from the transfusion of defective and unreasonably dangerous blood while he was a patient at the Jackson Park Hospital in June of 1972. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss on April 11, 1974, stating the complaint failed to state a cause of action because actions of strict tort liability based on the transfusion of blood are barred by Section 183, Chapter 91 of the Illinois Revised Statutes. The court dismissed the complaint on December 26, 1974, and the plaintiff appeals from that judgment.
The challenged Act was enacted in part as a result of the Illinois Supreme Court's decision in Cunningham v. MacNeal Memorial Hospital (1970), 47 Ill.2d 443, 266 N.E.2d 897. In that case an action was brought against a hospital by a patient who allegedly contracted serum hepatitis from defective blood supplied by the hospital for treatment of the patient's condition. The Supreme Court held the hospital was in the business of 'selling blood' with respect to the applicability of the doctrine of strict tort liability. The court stated '(W)e see no good reason for engrafing, Judicially, an exception in (the hospitals') favor onto the strict tort liability theory . . ..' (emphasis ours).
The Illinois Legislature then passed the challenged legislation which provides in relevant part as follows:
' § 181. Declaration of public policy.
* * * It is therefore the public policy of this State to promote the health and welfare of the people by limiting the legal liability arising out of such scientific procedures to instances of negligence or willful misconduct.
P.A. 77--184, § 1, eff. July 2, 1971.
S 182. Limitation of liability.
The procuring, furnishing, donating, processing, distributing or using human whole blood, plasma, blood products, blood derivatives and products, corneas, bones or organs or other human tissue for the purpose of injecting, transfusing or transplanting any of them in the human body is declared for purposes of liability in tort or contract to be the rendition of a service by every person, firm or corporation participating therein, whether or not any remuneration is paid therefor, and is declared not to be a sale of any such items and no warranties of any kind or description nor strict tort liability shall be applicable thereto, except as provided in Section 3.
P.A. 77--184, § 2, eff. July 2, 1971.'
The plaintiff now contends that Sections 181 Et seq. violate the proscription against special or local laws contained in Article IV, Section 13 of the 1970 Illinois Constitution which reads as follows:
In the case of Glass v. Ingalls Memorial Hospital (1975), 32 Ill.App.3d 237, 336 N.E.2d 495, on facts similar to those at bar, the court held specifically the blood legislation did not violate the constitutional prohibition against special legislation. In that case the court noted the imposition of legal liability without fault would have a chilling effect on the...
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