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Petratos v. Markakis3/15/1993
PATRICIA A. BLACKMON, Judge.
This is an appeal from a decision by the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas granting summary judgment in favor of defendant-appellee Lakewood Hospital ("appellee") against plaintiff-appellant Erasmia Petratos ("appellant") as Administrator of the estate of Fotios Petratos. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. The apposite facts follow.
Appellant filed a complaint for negligence, wrongful death, and medical malpractice against Aristotle Markakis, M.D., James Bekeny, M.D., and appellee. Appellee filed a motion for summary judgment on the grounds that its employees did not fail to exercise the appropriate standard of care owed to Fotios Petratos; that it was not liable for the negligence of private physicians; if there was a duty to monitor and intervene, appellee fulfilled that duty. Appellant filed a brief in opposition on the grounds that a hospital, once it has knowledge of the negligence of a staff physician, has a duty to discontinue or monitor the care of a patient in its hospital and breaches that duty, when it fails to monitor. The motion for summary judgment was granted.
The facts of this case were undisputed. Fotios Petratos, deceased, was hospitalized at appellee Lakewood Hospital from July 4, 1987 until his death on October 30, 1987. Dr. Markakis, a staff physician at the hospital, performed surgery on Petratos on July 4, 1987. Dr. James R. O'Malley, Chief of Surgery, saw Petratos every day after the surgery. Petratos was in the intensive care unit. Dr. O'Malley noted that no endoscopy had been performed and questioned Dr. Markakis as to why. In-house surgeons advised Dr. O'Malley that Petratos was developing signs of problems; Dr. O'Malley in turn ordered Dr. Markakis to get a surgical consultant. Dr. Markakis chose Dr. Bekeny, another staff physician. Dr. Bekeny assisted Dr. Markakis in all subsequent treatment decisions.
Petratos subsequently underwent several more surgeries. During surgery on August 7, 1987 by Drs. Bekeny and Markakis, Petratos' colon was accidentallsperforated. No colostomy was created to remedy the problem caused by the perforated colon. A colostomy would have been consistent with accepted standards of care. Dr. O'Malley advised Drs. Bekeny and Markakis to exteriorize the colon. Surgery was performed on August 18, 1987, and a colostomy was performed on August 25, 1987, which was too late. Surgery was performed again on September 28, 1987, but Petratos died on October 30, 1987.
Under the bylaws of the hospital: " he principal purpose of the hospital is to provide patient care at a level of quality and efficiency consistent with the generally accepted standard" (see Preamble); each department chairman had the duty to maintain continuing review of the professional performance of staff physicians (Sections 11.3.1, 4.4, Article XI); and he also had the authority to summarily suspend staff physicians to protect the life of a patient or reduce substantial likelihood of injury to them. (See Section 8.2.1, Article VIII).
Upon those facts, appellant assigns two errors from the trial court's summary judgment:
"Once negligence occurred, defendant hospital had a duty to monitor the care of the patient and intervene if necessary.
"The hospital has a non-delegable duty to monitor a patient's care and intervene if necessary once negligence has occurred."
Appellant's assignments of error are not well taken and are overruled.
The issue before this court is whether as a matter of law summary judgment was proper. We conclude that it was proper in light of Albain v. Flower Hosp. (1990), 50 Ohio St.3d 251
Page 1 2 3 Ohio Personal Injury Attorneys
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