Malpractice statute of limitations does not apply to hospital’s suit against radiology practice, court rules
Indiana’s medical malpractice statute of limitations does not apply to provider disputes, allowing a hospital’s claim against one local radiology practice to proceed, the state supreme court ruled March 8.
The court battle dates to April 2011, when patient Joseph Shaughnessy received two CT scans at a Franciscan Alliance hospital. Outside radiologists from Lake Imaging interpreted the images, but allegedly overlooked bleeding on the right side of the man’s brain. He later died and his sons filed a medical malpractice suit against the hospital system, unaware that the physicians were not employees.
Franciscan and Shaughnessy’s family reached a $187,000 settlement in 2015, and the hospital sought protection from the payment, citing an indemnity clause in its 2004 agreement with the practice. Lake Imaging balked, arguing its hospital partner failed to bring the claim within the two-year state of limitation for medical malpractice. However, state supreme court justices rejected the argument, allowing the breach-of-contract claim to continue, the Indiana Lawyer reported March 9.
“…(T)here is nothing in the [Medical Malpractice Act] to suggest that it extends beyond the physician-patient relationship to encompass commercial contracts between healthcare providers,” Justice Christopher Goff wrote in the unanimous court decision.
Lake Imaging had previously scored a legal victory in May 2021 when the Court of Appeals of Indiana sided with the practice prior to this month’s ruling. Goff and colleagues on the bench remanded the case for further proceedings. That includes considering whether ProAssurance Indemnity Co., Lake Imaging’s Insurer, has any obligation to indemnify the practice for an adverse judgment.
Read more on the ruling below or find the 13-page decision here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.