CHICAGO (Legal Newsline) – A federal appeals court needs help from the Indiana Supreme Court to determine how far a father can go with a claim of medical malpractice when the physicians he sued treated the driver of the car that caused a fatal accident.
On Feb. 3, the U.S. Court of Appeals certified two questions to Indiana’s highest court in the case of Jeffrey Cutchin, whose wife and daughter died in an automobile accident caused by a woman who was allegedly impaired by the opioid medication she had been prescribed.
Cutchin sued Sylvia Watson’s health care providers, alleging they failed to warn her that she shouldn't be driving because of the medications she was taking. After receiving the maximum settlement allowed under the state’s Medical Malpractice Act ($250,000), Cutchin sought further relief from the Patient’s Compensation Fund, which acts as an excess insurer in medical malpractice cases.
The fund’s liability would be capped at $1 million in this case, but it claims Cutchin’s lawsuit falls outside the scope of the MMA because his wife and daughter weren’t in the care of the health care providers he originally sued.
“Cutchin’s claim is premised on the notion that Watson’s doctor was negligent in treating her, and as a result of that negligence, his wife and daughter were foreseeably injured,” Judge Ilana Rovner wrote.
“He asserts that his claim therefore is one for medical malpractice, and one for which he may seek recompense according to the terms of the MMA, including its broad definition of ‘patient.’”
The Seventh Circuit says it can’t rule on the issue until the Indiana Supreme Court gives it some direction. It certified two questions for the justices to answer:
1. Whether Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act prohibits the Patient’s Compensation Fund from contesting the Act’s applicability to a claim after the claimant concludes a court‐approved settlement with a covered health care provider.
2. Whether Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act applies to claims brought against qualified providers for individuals who did not receive medical care from the provider, but who are injured as a result of the provider’s negligence in providing medical treatment to someone else.