In 2018, the decedent began experiencing pain in his left knee. After consultation with his orthopedic doctor, Dr. Paul Drouillard, the decedent was scheduled to have a left total knee replacement surgery on February 11, 2019, at Garden City Hospital. Dr. Drouillard successfully performed the surgery; however, the decedent experienced a decline in pulmonary status while in recovery and was transferred to the intensive care unit (“ICU”) on February 12, 2019.
In the ICU, the decedent was placed under the care of defendant Dr. Ronald Kattoo, the director of “Unit 2” of the ICU. Dr. Kattoo was not an employee of PHS, but rather was engaged by PHS through a contract with Pulmonary & Sleep Medicine, P.C. On March 3, 2019, Dr. Kattoo approved the transfer of the decedent from the ICU to a general medical floor that was also supervised by Dr. Kattoo. On March 5, 2019, the decedent was found in his hospital bed without
a heartbeat and expired.
Plaintiff filed a Michigan medical malpractice wrongful death complaint against defendants asserting that had the decedent “been in the ICU[,] his respiratory and cardiac status could have been more closely monitored and timely
treatment instituted to either prevent the cardiac arrest or allow for there to have been successful resuscitation.” The complaint sought to hold PHS vicariously liable for the negligent acts of its agents, namely Dr. Kattoo and the other ICU staff, who plaintiff claimed did not properly monitor and treat the decedent.
The trial court issued an order denying PHS’s motion for summary disposition that argued that plaintiff failed to show that Dr. Kattoo was an agent of PHS because he was not employed by the hospital and the decedent acknowledged some doctors were not employees when he signed his consent for treatment form before his knee surgery.
The State of Michigan Court of Appeals (“Michigan Appellate Court”) stated in its unpublished Per Curiam opinion dated April 11, 2024: “There is no dispute in this case that Dr. Kattoo was not an employee of PHS, and plaintiff’s ability to demonstrate an agency relationship between Dr. Kattoo and PHS thus depends upon the establishment of an ostensible agency relationship [an agency is ostensible when the principal intentionally or by want of ordinary care, causes a third person to believe another to be his agent who is not really employed by him] … here, the consent form the decedent signed put him on notice that some doctors may not be employees of Garden City Hospital, but did not inform him of Dr. Kattoo’s status. This is particularly relevant where here, Dr. Kattoo was not “just” a physician working in the hospital, but the director of the ICU itself, which he described as his “team.” Dr. Kattoo’s conduct while the decedent was in his care did nothing to dispel any belief about his agency and, quite the opposite, bolstered it … Dr. Kattoo held himself out as the leader of a “team” in the ICU for which he had supervisory control over residents and patients and their direction of care. In sum, the trial court did not err when it denied PHS’s motion for summary disposition on the issue of ostensible agency. The patient consent form did not clearly inform the decedent that Dr. Kattoo was not an employee of the hospital, which is especially true where Dr. Kattoo took affirmative steps to imply that he was.”
Source Kowalski v. Prime Healthcare Services Garden City, LLC, COA No. 366373.
If you or a loved one were harmed as a result of medical negligence in Michigan or in another U.S. state, you should find a Michigan medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your U.S. state, who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
Click on the “Contact Us Now” tab to the right, visit our website, or call us toll-free in the United States at 800-295-3959 to be connected with medical malpractice lawyers in your state who may assist you.
Turn to us when you don’t know where to turn.
