Laurie Gardner, a nurse at St. Mary Medical Center, Inc. (the Hospital), filed a proposed complaint against Anonymous Physician for medical malpractice. Anonymous Physician sought dismissal, arguing that because he and Gardner were in the same employ and she sustained a workplace injury, her exclusive remedy was under the Worker’s Compensation Act (WCA). The trial court dismissed the medical malpractice action based on Ind. Trial Rule 12(B)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
On appeal, Gardner argued that physicians are third parties under the WCA and thus are not shielded from claims of medical negligence brought by an employee of the same company. The Court of Appeals of Indiana stated in its Opinion filed on November 9, 2023: “We agree that the exclusivity provision of the WCA does not immunize a physician from claims for medical negligence arising from a doctor-patient relationship with the injured party, who is in the same employ as the physician. The exclusivity provision, however, does apply to claims brought against a physician that are unrelated to the physician’s medical treatment of a fellow employee.”
“Here, Gardner’s proposed complaint plainly shows that she is seeking, at least in part, to impose liability on Anonymous Physician for actions unrelated to any doctor-patient relationship between the two of them. Gardner was exposed to and contracted scabies from a patient while working as a nurse at the Hospital. This injury was directly related to her employment relationship, and Anonymous Physician was not a third party while working alongside her; he was her coworker. Gardner’s exclusive remedy for this workplace injury was through the WCA, and she cannot sue Anonymous Physician for negligence based on him allegedly failing to timely diagnose the patient and protect Gardner from exposure to scabies or for his general handling of the scabies outbreak in his role as medical director.”
“That said, to the extent Anonymous Physician directly engaged in a doctor-patient relationship with Gardner after her exposure and exercised independent medical judgment to treat her, his status then changed to that of a third party, making him subject to liability for any aggravation of her workplace injury resulting from his negligent treatment of her. While Gardner’s proposed complaint does not contain a positive assertion that an actual doctor-patient relationship existed between her and Anonymous Physician, the allegations suggest – sufficiently to withstand dismissal – that such a relationship existed (namely, Gardner alleged that Anonymous Physician negligently directed her care, failed to provide appropriate and timely treatment, and failed to refer her to appropriate specialists for treatment). This matter may be fleshed out more on remand, but at this early stage and on this limited record, Anonymous Physician has failed to establish that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to hear this medical malpractice action.”
The Court of Appeals concluded: “Reading the proposed complaint in a light most favorable to Gardner, we conclude that some of her allegations of malpractice appear to have arisen out of a doctor-patient relationship between her and Anonymous Physician and not simply from their common employment at the Hospital. While Gardner may not proceed against Anonymous Physician based on his treatment of another patient or his actions as a medical director at the Hospital, she may pursue a medical malpractice action related to any treatment she received from Anonymous Physician for her workplace injury. Accordingly, the trial court erred in dismissing the proposed complaint.”
Source Gardner v. Anonymous Physician, 23A-CT-345.
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