Background Facts
On August 2, 2016, Jonathan Schirmer was admitted to MidMichigan Medical Center (MMC) due to concerns that he was experiencing a heart attack. Jonathan sought to be treated by his primary care physician at a different hospital—McLaren North in Petoskey—but no beds were available at that hospital until August 3, so he stayed at MMC overnight.
The following day, a nurse practitioner signed a transfer authorization form for ambulance services provided by defendant North Flight, Inc. That form stated that Jonathan’s physical condition made “transportation by ambulance medically necessary” in part because “[t]ravel by means other than ambulance (i.e., private vehicle) could endanger [the] patient’s health” given the possibility of an “MVA” (motor vehicle accident). Jonathan’s transfer via ambulance was not considered an emergency because he was stable.
Defendant Robert L. Hunter, Sr. was the paramedic for the ambulance provided by North Flight, and defendant James Robert Williams was the driver and emergency medical technician (EMT). During the transport, Hunter provided cardiac monitoring, administered heparin intravenously, and checked Jonathan’s vital signs every 30 minutes.
Williams backed the ambulance into the hospital’s entryway, exited, walked to the ambulance’s rear, and opened the doors. Hunter then exited and stood off to the side to allow Williams to begin the offloading process. Williams proceeded to pull Jonathan’s cot out of the ambulance with Jonathan strapped in. As Williams pulled, the safety latch attached to the ambulance’s floor did not catch the safety bar attached to the cot’s head. Jonathan’s expert opined that, based on his review of the ambulance’s service records and North Flight’s representation after the incident that the safety latch was functioning normally at the relevant times, the safety latch did not catch because Hunter prematurely released it. The expert further noted that Williams never verified that the latch was engaged while he continued pulling Jonathan’s cot out of the ambulance, and Hunter failed to visualize the safety hook catching the safety bar while Williams continued pulling. But regardless of why the safety latch did not catch the cot’s safety bar, the result was that the safety latch never stopped the cot’s progress, so the cot fully came out of the ambulance, knocked Williams to the ground, and fell sideways onto the pavement with Jonathan strapped to it. Both Hunter and Williams quickly attended to Jonathan, unstrapped him, and helped him onto his feet.
The defendants moved for summary disposition under MCR 2.116(C)(7), arguing that Jonathan’s claims sounded in medical malpractice, and thus he was required to comply with the various statutory requirements applicable to medical malpractice claims, which he failed to do. After a hearing, the trial court agreed that Jonathan’s claims sounded in medical malpractice and accordingly granted the defendants’ motion for summary disposition. Jonathan appealed.
Michigan Appellate Court Opinion
The State of Michigan Court of Appeals held in its opinion filed on September 14, 2023: “Examining the particular factual setting that gave rise to plaintiffs’ claims, we conclude that plaintiffs’ claims do not implicate medical judgment. Evidence established how the cot was supposed to be unloaded from the ambulance—the cot was to be pulled out until its safety bar caught the ambulance’s safety latch, then the cot’s wheels were to be lowered and locked into place, then the cot’s safety bar was to be released from the safety latch and the cot could be pulled away from the ambulance. Evidence was also presented about what went wrong while Jonathan was being unloaded from the ambulance—the safety latch did not catch the cot’s safety bar. Nothing about this process or what went wrong implicates medical judgment; nothing about Jonathan’s medical condition affected how he was to be unloaded from the ambulance, nor was any special level of sophistication required to safely effectuate Jonathan’s move … [the plaintiffs’ expert] opined that the safety latch did not catch the cot’s safety bar because Hunter released the latch prematurely, and that, regardless, Jonathan fell because Hunter did not visualize whether the safety latch caught the cot’s safety bar while Williams was pulling the cot out, and Williams did not verify with Hunter that the safety latch caught the cot’s safety bar as he continued pulling out the cot. Lay jurors could evaluate the reasonableness of these actions solely on the basis of the jurors’ own knowledge and experience.”
Source Schirmer v. Williams, No. 362129.
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