Lane v. Anderson

MEDICAL
MALPRACTICE – BATTERY

Lane v. Anderson,
No. 03-03-0030 (Ill. App. Ct. Jan. 9, 2004)

The Appellate Court of Illinois affirmed summary judgment
in favor of a surgeon and a fifth-year resident on multiple claims brought by
a patient in a medical malpractice action. The court dismissed the patient’s
medical battery claim, finding that the patient consented to the physician and
resident performing the surgery. The court looked to the operative and pathology
reports and the fact that the surgical actions of the resident were subject
to the approval of the surgeon as evidence that the surgeon, not the resident,
served as the operating surgeon in compliance with the consent form. In doing
so, the court rejected the patient’s argument that the resident’s level of participation
in the surgery was greater than the patient had consented to on the hospital’s
consent form. The court also dismissed the patient’s claim that the surgeon
fraudulently concealed that the resident acted as the operating surgeon.