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Doyle v. Hutzel Hospital8/18/2000
Updated Copy
FOR PUBLICATION
May 19, 2000 9:00 a.m.
Plaintiff appeals as of right from an order granting summary disposition in favor of defendants and denying plaintiff's motion to amend her complaint in this medical malpractice case. On appeal, plaintiff challenges only that portion of the order denying her motion to amend. We reverse and remand.
I.
On October 14, 1996, plaintiff filed a complaint against defendants asserting a claim for personal injuries arising out of a 1994 postoperative infection. The transactional setting of plaintiff's original complaint was set forth in paragraphs six through eleven:
6. On May 2, 1994, Dr. [Jeffrey] Mast operated on Joyce Doyle at Hutzel Hospital, performing correction of malunion of the pelvis and acetabulum with fixation and bone grafting; surgical residents, surgical nurses, and other employees of Hutzel Hospital assisted Dr. Mast in his surgery.
7. On May 2, 1994, Dr. [Lawrence] Morawa operated on Joyce Doyle at Hutzel Hospital, performing a total right hip arthroplasty; surgical residents, surgical nurses, and other employees of Hutzel Hospital assisted Dr. Morawa in his surgery.
8. After her discharge from Hutzel Hospital on May 17, 1994, Joyce Doyle developed drainage from a surgical incision, as well as positive wound cultures, and persistent elevated (above normal limits) sedimentation rates.
9. On August 16, 1994, an orthopedic surgeon removed a small piece of yellow material from Joyce Doyle's surgical incision, noting that the material had the consistency of the "IO-band" material used at surgery.
10. Dr. Mast admitted Joyce Doyle to Hutzel Hospital on September 9, 1994, with a diagnosis of infected right hip; on September 13, 1994, as a result of the right hip infection, Dr. Mast removed the right total hip arthroplasty, and performed right acetabular fixation with right tibial pin insertion.
11. Since September 13, 1994, Joyce Doyle has not had a functional right hip joint and has been confined to a wheelchair.
Plaintiff's allegation of duty and theory of medical malpractice were presented in paragraphs twelve and thirteen:
12. On May 2, 1994, defendants and their agents and/or employees, owed to Joyce Doyle the duty to comply with the applicable standards of practice, or care, for the performance of correction of malunion of the pelvis and acetabulum with fixation and bone grafting, and total right hip arthroplasty.
13. Defendants, and their agents and/or employees, breached their duties to Joyce Doyle in the following ways, among others:
A. Drs. Mast and Morawa, as well as their surgical residents, caused foreign material to remain in Joyce Doyle's body at the close of their surgeries;
B. Drs. Mast and Morawa failed to insure that no foreign material remained in Joyce Doyle's body at the close of their surgeries;
C. The surgical nursing staff that participated in Joyce Doyle's surgery caused and/or allowed foreign material to remain in Joyce Doyle's body at the close of surgery.
In February 1998, after the expiration of the applicable period of limitation, MCL 600.5805(4); MSA 27A.5805(4), defendants moved for summary disposition pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(7), (C)(8), and (C)(10) on the basis plaintiff could not establish facts necessary to support her allegation that a foreign material was left in the surgical site during the May 2, 1994, surgery, or that any material removed on August 16, 1994, by the orthopedic surgeon was a foreign body. In response, plaintiff moved to amend her complaint, seeking to
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