Forsythe v. Advocate Health & Hosps. Corp. (Summary)

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Forsythe v. Advocate Health & Hosps. Corp., No. 11 C 7676 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 1, 2013)

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois denied a hospital’s motion to dismiss allegations in a patient’s amended complaint alleging malpractice and loss of consortium.  Although the hospital argued that the amended complaint included allegations that had not appeared in prior complaints and were now alleged after the statute of limitations period had run, the court disagreed and concluded that the patient’s amended allegations were sufficiently pled to have arisen out of the same transaction or occurrence and therefore related back to the original complaint that was filed within the statute of limitations period.  Accordingly, the court denied the hospital’s motion to dismiss the allegations in the patient’s amended complaint.

In the case, a patient alleged that she had suffered injuries as the result of negligent treatment by physicians and nurses at a hospital, and her husband alleged that as a result of those injuries he had been deprived of a portion of the patient’s love, companionship, and consortium.  Two different physicians reviewed the patient’s medical records and concluded that the patient had a reasonable and meritorious cause for filing a lawsuit against the hospital and the patient’s physicians.

The patient filed a series of complaints against the hospital.  In the patient’s second amended complaint, the patient added new physicians and claims to her complaint.  The hospital sought to dismiss these complaints because they were filed after the statute of limitations had run.  However, the court denied this motion to dismiss because it concluded that the complaint had sufficiently alleged new facts that may have been part of the same transaction and occurrence described in the patient’s prior complaints.  For this reason, the court concluded that the new facts and allegations related back to the original complaint, which was filed within the statute of limitations period.