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Hull v. Southern Illinois Hospital Services3/10/2005
ere the defendants' " 'inappropriate interpretation of clinical evidence of fetal stress and distress during labor' " and the defendants' " ' nappropriate actions * to intervene and to provide appropriate medical care and treatment.' " The court in Premo held that because the report never discussed what the appropriate actions were, it failed to adequately state a basis for the physician's determination that there was a reasonable and meritorious cause to file an action against the defendants. Premo, 197 Ill. App. 3d at 632.
Here, however, Dr. Heymach's report discussed the appropriate standard of care, i.e., that the defendant should have given the plaintiff advice and information to receive her full informed consent and should have appropriately monitored her arm prior to her discharge. Dr. Heymach stated in his report that the defendant deviated from the standard of care because it failed to notify the plaintiff of the expectations and attendant risks of the intravenous procedure, so that she could notify the staff of unexpected pain, and that the defendant failed to properly monitor the plaintiff's arm prior to her discharge. As a result of the defendant's negligence, the plaintiff did not notify the staff of the extravasation and pain that was not to have been expected, and the dye continued to escape into the surrounding tissue, causing the plaintiff to suffer a severe reaction, compressive-ischemic neuropathy, and ulnar nerve injury . Hence, Dr. Heymach's report clearly identified the reasons for his determination that the plaintiff's cause of action against the defendant was meritorious. See Moyer, 327 Ill. App. 3d at 902-03; Hagood v. O'Conner, 165 Ill. App. 3d 367, 373 (1988) (a health professional is not required to include the phrase "reasonable and meritorious cause for filing the action" within the written report, although there must be sufficient facts and conclusions set forth in the report to support that finding).
We conclude that the circuit court abused its discretion in determining that the plaintiff failed to satisfy the requirements of section 2-622(a)(1) of the Code. Accordingly, we reverse the circuit court's order dismissing the plaintiff's amended complaint with prejudice and remand this case to the circuit court for further proceedings consistent with this disposition.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the circuit court of Jackson County is reversed, and the cause is remanded.
Reversed; cause remanded.
WELCH and KUEHN, JJ., concur.
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