The Supreme Court of Ohio held in its December 28, 2023 opinion: “The broad definition of “medical claim” that applies to the statute of repose clearly and unambiguously includes wrongful-death claims based on medical care, and nothing in Ohio’s statutory wrongful-death chapter negates their inclusion. Therefore, the statute of repose applies to such claims.”
Background Facts
On December 21, 2003, Todd Everhart was involved in an automobile accident and was transported to Coshocton County Memorial Hospital (“Coshocton Hospital”). At the hospital, doctors took x-rays of Mr. Everhart’s chest. Mr.
Everhart was not admitted to Coshocton Hospital but was instead transferred by helicopter to the Ohio State University Medical Center. Later, Joseph Mendiola, M.D. (“Dr. Mendiola”), who was working at Coshocton Hospital, read the chest x-rays and dictated a report noting a “focal area of increased opacity in the lateral aspect of the right upper lobe, which may represent a lung contusion.” Dr. Mendiola’s report was distributed to various departments and physicians in accordance with hospital procedures. Mohamed Hamza, M.D. (“Dr. Hamza”) was assigned as backup physician to Mr. Everhart. A backup physician was assigned to Coshocton Hospital emergency-room patients who otherwise had no primary-care provider, allowing the patient to contact that physician with any questions he or she had after discharge. Although Dr. Hamza was assigned as the backup physician, he denied ever receiving the x-rays. After a stay at the Ohio State University Medical Center, Mr. Everhart was discharged and recovered from his injuries.
Nearly three years later, Mr. Everhart returned to Coshocton Hospital complaining of abdominal pain, blood in his urine, and a cough. Coshocton Hospital personnel performed a CT scan and took x-rays, which revealed a large mass in the right upper lobe of Mr. Everhart’s lung. Further testing established that he was suffering from advanced-stage lung cancer. Just two months later, Mr. Everhart died.
On January 25, 2008, Mr. Everhart’s wife, Machelle Everhart, filed a complaint in her individual capacity and as administrator of Mr. Everhart’s estate against Coshocton Hospital, Dr. Hamza, and Dr. Mendiola, (“the Coshocton defendants”) asserting claims of medical malpractice and wrongful death. Mrs. Everhart alleged, among other things, that the Coshocton defendants had deviated from the accepted standard of care when they failed to follow up on or inform Mr. Everhart of the lung opacity that was visible in the chest x-rays taken at Coshocton Hospital in 2003.
Ohio Medical Malpractice Statute Of Repose
R.C. 2305.113(C)(1) states: “No action upon a medical, dental, optometric, or chiropractic claim shall be commenced more than four years after the occurrence of the act or omission constituting the alleged basis of the medical, dental,
optometric, or chiropractic claim.” The statute goes on to broadly define “medical claim” as any claim that is asserted in any civil action against a physician, podiatrist, hospital, home, or residential facility, against any employee or agent of a physician, podiatrist, hospital, home, or residential facility, or against a licensed practical nurse, registered nurse, advanced practice registered nurse, physical therapist, physician assistant, emergency medical technician-basic,
emergency medical technician-intermediate, or emergency medical technician-paramedic, and that arises out of the medical diagnosis, care, or treatment of any person. R.C. 2305.113(E)(3).
The Supreme Court of Ohio stated in the case it was deciding: “We reiterate here that R.C. 2305.113(C) is a true statute of repose and that it means what it says. Wrongful-death claims based on medical care are clearly and expressly included in R.C. 2305.113(E)(3)’s broad definition of “medical claim.” They are claims that are “asserted in any civil action against a physician * * * that arise[] out of the medical diagnosis, care, or treatment” of a patient. Id. Therefore, they are expressly within the scope of the medical-claim statute of repose unless another statutory provision negates their inclusion.”
Source Everhart v. Coshocton Cty. Mem. Hosp., Slip Opinion No. 2023-Ohio-4670.
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