New Health Care Liability Action Opinion: Plaintiff's Case Dismissed Due to Counsel's Failure to Comply with Onerous Presuit Notice and Filing Requirements

The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently issued its opinion in Newman v. State, No. M2018-00948-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 15, 2019).  The syllabus form the slip opinion reads as follows:

A patient in a state psychiatric facility was killed by another patient. The surviving spouse of the deceased patient brought suit against the State and was awarded damages for the wrongful death of her husband. Because the Tennessee Health Care Liability Act applies to the surviving spouse’s claim, and because she failed to comply with the Act’s requirements of pre-suit notice and good faith certification, we must reverse the decision of the Claims Commission.

Here is a link to the slip opinion:

http://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/newman.unitta.opn_.pdf

NOTE: This case is a companion case to the one discussed in my Aug. 8, 2016 blog post:

http://theduncanlawfirm.blogspot.com/2016/08/new-health-care-liability-action.html

Both of these cases demonstrate the importance of complying with Tenn. Code Ann. sec. 29-26-121 and -122; they also demonstrate the wide net cast by Tenn. Code Ann. sec. 29-26-101.  Health care liability actions are incredibly complicated and byzantine, which can cause problems for lawyers who do not practice in this area of the law.  

A person died due to alleged negligence here and the case(s) should be allowed to proceed as any other case would without being dismissed due to procedural technicalities.  That would be fair.