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LeBlanc v. Friedman1/29/2003
elease discharges four individuals or entities from liability: Dr. Friedman; another doctor also involved in the laparoscopy; Brigham and Women's Hospital; and Richard Wolf Medical Instruments Corp., the maker of the instrument left inside Mrs. Leblanc (four parties). It does not specifically reference the medical instrument or its having been left in Mrs. Leblanc during the laparoscopy procedure, but does refer to the care and treatment she received on March 16. Because the text of the release is critical to our analysis, the foundation of this case, it deserves to be quoted at length:
"[The Leblancs] discharge [the four parties] of and from all debts, demands, actions, causes of actions, suits, accounts, covenants, contracts, agreements, damages of any and all claims, demands and liabilities whatsoever, of every name and nature, which we now have or might have, upon or against said [four parties] more especially from all claims arising out of any and all personal injuries, damages, expenses and any loss or damage whatsoever resulting from care and treatment rendered to Diane Leblanc on or about March 16, 1992 . . . .
"[The Leblancs further hold the four parties harmless] from all claims, demands and suits for damages, costs, loss of services, loss of consortium, companionship, society or affection, expenses or compensation, which [they] . . . have or may have on account of, or in anyway growing out of, said care and treatment or its results.
"It is agreed and understood by the undersigned that this Release runs not only to [the four parties] but, in addition, to [any other parties] who are or might otherwise be liable in anyway for the care and treatment rendered to the undersigned and which is the subject matter of this settlement . . . .
"[They] further understand that this Release is to compromise and terminate all claims for injuries and/or damages of whatever nature, known or unknown, including future developments thereof in anyway growing out of or connected with or which may hereafter in anyway grow out of or be connected with said care and treatment its results . . . .
"'It is the intention of both parties hereto that this Release shall resolve any and all claims of any kind nature which have against [the four parties], including specifically, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, claims for injuries currently existing but unknown to either or both of the parties hereto.'" (Emphases added. Indentation and spacing in the original.)
During a trip in the spring, 1994, Mrs. Leblanc again began to feel pain, such that she was taken to an emergency room in Oklahoma. When X-rays suggested a possible tumor, she consulted a urologist on the advice of Dr. Partridge. Further tests revealed that Mrs. Leblanc did in fact have a left ovary. It was later surgically removed.
The Leblancs subsequently brought the present suit charging Dr. Friedman with malpractice for failing to verify the existence of Mrs. Leblanc's left ovary during the March 16, 1992, laparoscopy, and failing to remove it during the June 3, 1992, hysterectomy. Mrs. Leblanc further alleged that Dr. Friedman's negligence had caused the pain she experienced in 1994, among other damages. The judge granted summary judgment for Dr. Friedman. The judge reasoned that the release, by its explicit terms, discharged Dr. Friedman from all liability for negligent acts he had committed before August 17, 1992, including the negligence of failing to detect and subsequently failing to remove Mrs. Leblanc's left ovary.
The Appeals Court reversed the decision. 53 Mass. App. Ct. 697 (2002). Relying on LaFleur v. C.C. Pierce Co., 398 Mass. 254 (1986), t
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