To make a claim of medical malpractice in Missouri, a plaintiff must prove the defendant failed to meet a required medical standard of care, their acts or omissions were performed negligently, and those acts or omissions caused her injuries. In a case decided by a Missouri appellate court on December 30, 2025, the Appellant had to present expert medical testimony concerning the requisite standard of care in order to prove her theories of medical negligence.
The Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District Division Two held in its December 30, 2025 opinion: “Appellant failed to timely disclose her expert. Without expert testimony, Appellant could not establish Respondents’ actions fell below the standard of care, which is necessary to make a prima facie case for medical malpractice. Additionally, because Appellant did not timely file a response to Respondent’s motion for summary judgment, Respondents’ uncontroverted material facts were deemed admitted and Appellant’s alleged disputed issues of material fact were not part of the summary judgment record. Respondents established a right to summary judgment as a matter of law and thus the trial court did not err in granting Respondents’ motion for summary judgment.”
“The only issue here is whether Appellant timely disclosed her expert. The record shows the trial court entered a consent amended scheduling order on April 11, 2024. The consent order, in pertinent part, required Appellant to identify all experts by May 7, 2024. Four months later, on August 5, 2024, Respondents moved for summary judgment. Appellant did not file her expert witness designation and her response to Respondents’ motion for summary judgment until September 24–25, 2024.”
“It is clear, Appellant failed to comply with the trial court’s order to disclose her expert by May 7, 2024, and therefore the disclosure of her expert was untimely. If Appellant needed additional time to find an expert, she should have filed a motion with that specific request before the May 7th deadline. Instead, she filed a motion for additional time four months after the deadline had passed, which happened to be on the date her response to Respondents’ motion for summary judgment was due.”
“Appellant’s expert witness designation filed on September 24, 2024 was untimely. Without the testimony of an expert, Appellant could not establish Respondents’ actions fell below the standard of care to make her prima facie case for medical malpractice.”
“[T]he trial court did not err in entering summary judgment in favor of Respondents. Accordingly, the trial court’s judgment is affirmed.”
Jernigan v. Mercy Hospital East Communities (MLW No. 84159/Case No. ED113609).
If you or a family member suffered serious injury or other harm that may be due to medical negligence in Missouri or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Missouri 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 family member in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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