While Robert Lewis (Robert) was undergoing surgery at Franciscan Alliance, Inc. d/b/a Franciscan Health Indianapolis (the Hospital), the anesthesia machine failed. Robert suffered complications and died about a week later. Roberta Miller, as Special Administrator of the Estate of Robert Lewis, Deceased, and Jeanetta Lewis, Individually (collectively, the Estate) filed a proposed complaint with the Indiana Department of Insurance (the IDOI) against, among others, the Hospital, alleging medical malpractice.
About a year later, the Estate filed a complaint in the trial court against the Hospital only (the Complaint), alleging that Hospital employees were negligent in maintenance and inspection of the anesthesia machine. The Hospital filed an Ind. Trial Rule 12(B)(1) motion to dismiss the Complaint, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Specifically, the Hospital argued that the claims were within the scope of Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act (the MMA) and that the medical review panel (MRP) had not yet rendered an opinion as required under the MMA. The Estate maintained that the Complaint alleged claims of ordinary negligence, not medical malpractice. The trial court granted the Hospital’s motion and the plaintiffs appealed.
The Court of Appeals of Indiana stated in its Memorandum Decision dated May 28, 2024: “we recognize that the anesthesia machine used in Robert’s surgery was in a general sense part of his medical care; however, the inquiry requires a more focused examination of whether the claimed misconduct involved the exercise of professional medical judgment or skill by the medical provider and whether a jury would be capable of resolving factual issues without applying the standard of care prevalent in the local medical community … Here, the claimed misconduct concerns the action or inaction of the technicians and engineers in the Engineering Department with regard to their inspection and maintenance of internal electrical components of the anesthesia machine at a time prior to Robert’s surgery. The allegedly negligent conduct did not “involve[] provision of medical services” or “the exercise of professional medical judgment or skill by the medical provider.” Doe, 194 N.E.2d at 1201; West, 23 N.E.3d at 728. Indeed, in conducting an investigation into what occurred with the machine, the Engineering Department saw no need to speak to or consult with the anesthesiologist or surgeon, who each subsequently testified that they did not know anything about how the anesthesia machine worked and that it was for the biomedical team to determine what happened.”
“We agree with the Estate that the trier of fact will be called upon to examine the engineer’s conduct in failing to maintain the equipment prior to the procedure, not the medical professionals’ skill or judgment during the procedure. The latter requires reference to the standard of care prevalent in the medical community at large, while the former does not … That is, we find that the Estate’s claims in the Complaint are capable of resolution by a jury “without application of the standard of care prevalent in the local medical community” … we conclude that the Estate’s claims concerning the adequacy of the Engineering Department’s inspection and maintenance of the anesthesia machine sound in general negligence rather than medical malpractice.”
Source Miller v. Franciscan Alliance, Inc., Court of Appeals Case No. 23A-CT-2566.
If you or a loved one were harmed as a result of medical malpractice in Indiana or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find an Indiana medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice malpractice case, if appropriate.
Click here to visit our website or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959 to find medical malpractice lawyers in your U.S. state who may assist you.
Turn to us when you don’t know where to turn.
