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Longa v. Vicory6/7/2005
Appellants-defendants Dr. Gerald Longa and Dr. Frank L. Spendal bring this interlocutory appeal of a certified question from the Vermillion Circuit Court. The question that is certified for our review is: does Indiana Code section 16-21-2-7 impose general peer review and quality assurance responsibility on each individual member of a hospital's medical staff? Finding that there is no private right of action and that the doctors owed no duty to Vicory under Indiana Code section 16-21-2-7, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand with instructions to enter summary judgment in favor of Drs. Longa and Spendal.
FACTS
This action arises from the deaths of the plaintiffs' (Vicory's) decedents at Vermillion County Hospital (Hospital) on dates ranging from April 6, 1993, to March 2, 1995. A nurse at the Hospital's Intensive Care Unit, Orville Lynn Majors, came under suspicion regarding these deaths, and he was eventually convicted of murdering six patients. Majors v. State, 773 N.E.2d 231 (Ind. 2002).
Approximately sixty-three families filed Proposed Complaints with the Indiana Department of Insurance, alleging in part that members of the Hospital's medical staff had committed medical malpractice for failing to provide proper peer review. The Proposed Complaints also seek damages from Majors, the Board and Administrator of the Hospital, the Commissioners of Vermillion County, and several physicians practicing at the hospital, including Drs. Longa and Spendal. Although Drs. Longa and Spendal were members of the Hospital's medical staff during this time period, neither of them treated any of the patients whose deaths were at issue in the Proposed Complaints. According to their affidavits, neither Dr. Longa nor Dr. Spendal had any principal-agent or employer-employee relationship with any of the health care providers who had treated the patients, including Majors. Appellant's App. p. 49-52.
The Service of Medicine Committee (Committee) at the Hospital is responsible for peer review and for monitoring admissions, discharges and patient deaths. Its primary responsibility is to monitor the level of medical care being given at the Hospital and to ensure that it is adequate. Neither Dr. Longa nor Dr. Spendal has ever been a member of the Committee.
On January 21, 2000, Drs. Longa and Spendal filed a Motion for Preliminary Determination of Law and Motion to Dismiss or for Summary Judgment in the Vermillion Circuit Court. The doctors requested a grant of summary judgment on four of Vicory's claims: respondeat superior, claims based on the assumption that Drs. Longa and Spendal were treating physicians, res ipsa loquitor, and the claim that Drs. Longa and Spendal failed to provide proper peer review. After holding the motion in abeyance while the parties attempted mediation-which ultimately failed-in April 2003, Drs. Longa and Spendal requested a ruling on their motion, and the trial court held a hearing on July 11, 2003. On March 31, 2004, the trial court granted the motion as to the respondeat superior, negligent treatment, and res ipsa loquitor theories. However, the trial court denied the motion as to whether Drs. Longa and Spendal had peer review responsibility at the Hospital during the time at issue.
On April 29, 2004, the doctors filed a Motion to Certify Question for Interlocutory Appeal. The trial court granted the motion and certified the question the next day. On June 21, 2004, we accepted jurisdiction over this appeal.
DISCUSSION AND DECISION
The sole issue presented for our review is whether Indiana Code section 16-21-2-7 imposes general peer review and quality assurance responsibility on each
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