New Health Care Liability Action Opinion: Summary Judgment for Physician Upheld on Appeal Due to Her Being an Employee of the University of Tennessee and Immune from Suit

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has released its opinion in Parker ex rel. Parker v. Dassow, No. E2021-01402-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Oct. 20, 2022). The syllabus from the opinion reads:

This appeal involves a healthcare liability action. The plaintiff sued a physician who had interpreted the results of her fetal ultrasound. The physician was employed by a Tennessee state university as a professor. Her job duties included both educational responsibilities and clinical care to patients in the residency clinics. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the physician, finding that she had received no personal gain by her act of interpreting the ultrasound. Therefore, the physician possessed absolute immunity under the Tennessee Claims Commission Act for her actions within the scope of her state employment. Discerning no error, we affirm.

Here is a link to the opinion: 

https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/alexandrea_parker_v_jeanie_d._dassow_m.d..pdf.

NOTE: This opinion offers a great discussion of Tennessee's current summary judgment standard and physician immunity in a health care liability action (née medical malpractice case) when the physician is a state employee only not acting for personal gain.