Pastchol v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co.
| Decision Date | 30 September 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-1167,95-1167 |
| Parties | Lorine PASTCHOL, Appellant, v. ST. PAUL FIRE & MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY, as Insurer of Magnolia Hospital; Scott McMahen, M.D., P.A.; Dan Bocan, C.R.N.A.; P. Clark, R.N.; K. Whitehead, R.N.; and R. Canterbury, R.N., Appellees. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Overton S. Anderson, Mariam T. Hopkins, Little Rock, for St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co.
Gary Nutter, Texarkana, for P. Clark, R.N.
Dennis Shackleford, El Dorado, for Scott McMahen, M.D.
Appellant, Lorine Pastchol, appeals the order of the Columbia County Circuit Court granting summary judgment to appellees, St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company, Scott McMahen, Dan Bocan, P. Clark, K. Whitehead, and R. Canterbury, on the ground that the statute of limitations expired Rule 56(c) of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure provides that summary judgment is to be rendered only in those instances where "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." The burden of sustaining a motion for summary judgment is the responsibility of the moving party. Tullock v. Eck, 311 Ark. 564, 845 S.W.2d 517 (1993). All proof submitted must be viewed in a light most favorable to the non-moving party and any doubts or inferences must be resolved against the moving party. Green v. National Health Labs., Inc., 316 Ark. 5, 870 S.W.2d 707 (1994).
prior to the filing of this medical malpractice claim involving the death of her brother. Jurisdiction is properly had in this court pursuant to Ark.Sup.Ct.R. 1-2(a)(3) and (16). In support of this appeal, appellant contends the trial court erred in granting summary judgment in applying the wrong statute of limitations; in disregarding the doctrine of continuous treatment; and in refusing to allow appellant to substitute herself as decedent's administratrix as the real party in interest to this action pursuant to Ark.Code Ann. § 16-62-101 (1987). We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Appellant filed her original complaint on September 7, 1993, alleging a cause of action against appellees for medical malpractice and the wrongful death of her brother Idell Burton. Two amended complaints were subsequently filed. According to those complaints, Mr. Burton was admitted to the Magnolia Hospital in Magnolia, Arkansas, on August 25, 1991, complaining of abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. The following day, surgery was performed on Mr. Burton to repair a perforated duodenal ulcer. While he was receiving anesthesia, but before the surgery had begun, Mr. Burton vomited and aspirated the contents of his stomach, depositing said contents into his lungs. Appellant alleges that as a result, Mr. Burton's lungs were severely damaged and that the aspiration of the stomach contents into his lungs was the result of the negligent conduct of the appellees. Mr. Burton died during transport to Baptist Medical Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, on September 5, 1991.
Appellees subsequently filed motions for summary judgment and dismissal on the basis that appellant's claim was barred by the statute of limitations and that appellant had no standing to bring suit. The trial court granted appellees' motions and dismissed the case based on its findings that appellant's claim was filed after the expiration of the two-year statute of limitations period provided in the Medical Malpractice Act at Ark.Code Ann. § 16-114-203 (1987). The trial court reasoned that because appellant alleged a medical injury to the decedent, the suit was one of medical malpractice, rather than wrongful death, and that the date the cause of action accrued was the date the decedent underwent surgery, August 26, 1991. Additionally, the trial court determined that appellant had no standing to pursue a claim of survival pursuant to section 16-62-101, as she was not the executor nor administrator of the decedent's estate and therefore not a proper party to bring suit.
Appellant argues that this case is one of wrongful death, not medical malpractice, and as such the trial court should have applied the three-year statute of limitations for wrongful death actions as provided in Ark.Code Ann. § 16-62-102 (1987), instead of the two-year period for medical malpractice actions found in section 16-114-203. Appellant asserts that these two causes of action are separate and distinct even though the cause of death in this case is alleged to have resulted from a medical injury. Our case law does not support appellant's position.
In the recent case of Hertlein v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 323 Ark. 283, 914 S.W.2d 303 (1996), we reaffirmed our holding in Ruffins v. ER Arkansas, P.A., 313 Ark. 175, 853 S.W.2d 877 (1993), and recognized that the Medical Malpractice Act applies to all causes of actions for medical injury arising after April 2, 1979, and that it supersedes any inconsistent provision of law. Ark.Code Ann. § 16-114-202 (1987). In an effort to resolve the conflict between the two actions and their respective statutes of limitations, we concluded in Hertlein that any medical injury, even one resulting in the death of a person, is governed by the Medical Malpractice Act and not the wrongful-death statute. Thus, the controlling statute of limitations is the two-year period found in section 16-114-203(a), which provides that, "[a]ll actions for medical injury shall be commenced within two (2) years after the cause of action accrues." Ark.Code Ann. § 16-114-201(3) (1987) defines medical injury as:
any adverse consequences arising out of or sustained in the course of the professional services being rendered by a medical care provider, whether resulting from negligence, error, or omission in the performance of such services; or from rendition of such services without informed consent or in breach of warranty or in violation of contract; or from failure to diagnose; or from premature abandonment of a patient or of a course of treatment; or from failure to properly maintain equipment or appliances necessary to the rendition of such services; or otherwise arising out of or sustained in the course of such services.
Clearly, the case at hand involves a medical injury; thus, appellant's cause of action is one of medical malpractice, which must have been filed within two years after the cause of action accrued. We therefore conclude the trial court was correct in applying a two-year statute of limitations period. Given that, our inquiry must now focus on the more complicated issue of when this cause of action accrued.
Section 16-114-203(b) provides that the date a cause of action for medical malpractice accrues is "the date of the wrongful act complained of and no other time." (Emphasis added.) Appellant argues that this cause of action accrued on the date of the decedent's death, September 5, 1991, based on the common-law doctrine of continuous treatment. Appellees argue that the applicable date in this case is August 26, 1991, the date the decedent underwent surgery and the date on which the alleged wrongful act complained of occurred. Appellees further argue that the doctrine of continuous treatment does not apply in this case because the only act or wrong complained of was the single, isolated incident which occurred during surgery. Appellees support this position by pointing out that appellant does not allege any acts of malpractice occurring during any treatment after the surgery. Moreover, during oral argument before this court, counsel for appellees stated, and counsel for appellant did not contest on rebuttal, that appellees did not even participate in the post-surgery treatment of the decedent.
Appellant concedes that the only act of negligence alleged is that which occurred during the induction of anesthesia before the decedent's surgery on August 26, 1991. Appellant also admits that the post-surgery treatment of the decedent was proper; however, she maintains that because the decedent was continually under medical treatment until his death, the cause of action did not accrue until the date of the decedent's death. We believe appellant's reliance on the doctrine of continuous treatment is misplaced, as that doctrine was not designed to extend the statute of limitations period in cases where only a single, isolated act of malpractice or negligence is alleged.
This court adopted the continuous treatment doctrine in Lane v. Lane, 295 Ark. 671, 752 S.W.2d 25 (1988). In that case, Dr. Lane had given narcotic injections to his wife over the course of many years to treat her migraine headaches. As a result of the injections, Ms. Lane suffered scarring and drug addiction. Dr. Lane moved for summary judgment and a directed verdict on the ground that the statute of limitations barred the claim, but the trial court denied his motion even though the initial injurious treatment occurred more than two years before suit was filed. In recognition of the validity of the continuous treatment doctrine, we held that:
In contrast to the so-called continuing tort theory, based on a single negligent act, the continuous treatment doctrine becomes relevant when the medical negligence consists of a series of negligent acts, or a continuing course of improper treatment.
Id. at 675, 752 S.W.2d at 27 (emphasis added).
We further concluded that the doctrine's application is proper in situations where a patient receives a series of treatments for which no single treatment caused the harm; rather the harm resulted from the cumulative effect of the multiple treatments. In such a situation it would be unfair to require the patient to pinpoint the one particular treatment which caused the...
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