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Muse v. Lane Memorial Hospital Foundation5/13/2005
Disposition: Affirmed.
Before: PARRO, KUHN, and WELCH, JJ.
Plaintiffs-appellants, Ellis Muse and his wife Hazel, appeal the trial court's dismissal of their claims against defendant-appellee, Lane Memorial Hospital Foundation (Lane Memorial Hospital) by summary judgment. We affirm.
ISSUE
In our review of the trial court's grant of summary judgment, we examine whether a contract between a doctor and a hospital which contains a valid stipulation for the benefit of a third party (also known under Louisiana law as a stipulation pour autrui), who was a patient, falls within the scope of the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act (MMA), La. R.S. 40:1299.41-1299.49.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
In December 1999, Mr. Muse, a self-paying patient without medical health insurance, presented to Lane Memorial Hospital's emergency room suffering from chest pain. After a heart attack was ruled out, he was diagnosed with methacholine resistant staph aureus (MRSA), admitted to the hospital, and placed on antibiotics, which were administered intravenously. Subsequently, Mr. Muse was transferred to the hospital's skilled nursing facility (SNF) of Lane Memorial Hospital, where the antibiotic treatment for the MSRA infection was continued. While in the SNF, he was seen by an infectious disease expert who suggested that Mr. Muse transfer to Earl K. Long Memorial Hospital, where a full time infectious disease expert was on staff. The Muse family declined to move Mr. Muse.
In January 2000, Dr. Richard Rathbone became Mr. Muse's primary treating physician. Based on the opinion of an infectious disease expert, Dr. Rathbone suspected that the patient was suffering from osteomyelitis in his toe. To verify this suspicion and to rule out any other possible sources, Dr. Rathbone ordered a bone scan of Mr. Muse's entire body.
Concern for the greater risk of exposure to infectious diseases while hospitalized and because Mr. Muse seemingly otherwise met the criteria for discharge, Dr. Rathbone decided to release the patient with an order that home health care administer the intravenous antibiotic treatments in amounts suitable to treat the suspected osteomyelitis. Dr. Rathbone believed he could subsequently review the results of the bone scan and order any additional necessary action through home health care. As a condition of discharge, Lane Memorial Hospital agreed with Dr. Rathbone that Mr. Muse could obtain a bone scan at the hospital prior to discharge with the hospital waiving its usual policy that required patients to pay a portion of the charges upon receipt of services. Dr. Rathbone did not want the fact that Mr. Muse was self-paying and/or unable to meet the necessary prepayment deposit to impede his immediate receipt of the diagnostic testing.
On January 18, 2000, prior to discharge, when Mr. Muse went for the ordered bone scan, the Lane Memorial Hospital bone scan machine was not available. As a result, Dr. Rathbone's order was changed from a bone scan before discharge to one that would be administered on an outpatient basis. A bone scan was subsequently scheduled to be performed 24 days later at Earl K. Long Memorial Hospital. But before he received the bone scan, Mr. Muse's spine had collapsed. An MRI performed on January 27, 2000, at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center indicated that osteomyelitis was present in Mr. Muse's spine rather than in his toe. Due to the severity of the osteomyelitis, Mr. Muse was rendered a paraplegic.
On November 21, 2001, the Muses filed this lawsuit, naming Lane Memorial Hospital, the Louisiana Patient's Compensation Fund and Oversight Board (the Fund), and ot
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