Search This Blog

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Medical Malpractice: Plaintiff Survives Summary Judgment with a Negligence Per Se Claim

The Tennessee Court of Appeals just issued its opinion in Watkins ex rel. Watkins v. Affiliated Internists, P.C. No. M2008-01205-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 29, 2009). The plaintiff was able to survive summary judgment with a negligence per se claim. The court held as follows:

Thus, we must respectfully disagree with the trial court’s finding that TENN. COMP. R. & REGS. 0880-2-.18(7) cannot support the Plaintiff’s claim of negligence per se. We find that it constitutes a standard of care, and that the trial court erred in denying the Plaintiff’s motion to amend the complaint to allege a claim of negligence or negligence per se based on the breach of that standard.
Id., slip op. at 31 (emphasis added). As you can surmise, the defendant failed to comply with the above-referenced rule/regulation. See id.

Here's a link to the opinion:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TCA/PDF/094/John%20Mark%20Watkins%20v%20Affiliated%20Internists%20and%20TK%20Pardue%20MD%20OPN.pdf

No comments: