Question

Case # 6:

Jaime Lannister was a famous interventional cardiologist in Westeros who provided services and had staff privileges at the Northshore Hospital in Westeros. Soon after being awarded staff privileges at Northshore, Lannister started providing catheterizations and echocardiology services at the hospital. He was fully credentialed, board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases, and had no previous history patient safety or quality issues. The Northshore Board of Trustees thoroughly vetted him and carefully checked his past record of care in cardiology. Dr. Lannister had a thriving practice and his patients loved him. He was able to improve the lives of many of this patients by providing them with cardiovascular treatments services. However, Dr. Lannister’s patients soon begin experiencing problems and complications after their invasive cardiology procedures. One patient experienced a perforated artery during an angioplasty, anther had an angioplasty performed on the wrong artery, and several suffered a myocardial infarctions during an EEG test. He missed a left anterior descending artery (LAD) that was completely blocked in a patient who was suffering from a heart attack. Instead, Dr. Lannister performed a procedure to open the right anterior descending artery. All of these mistakes were brought to the attention of Dr. Lannister. The physicians at Northshore convened a professional practice evaluation and recommended summary suspension of his catheterization lab and EEG privileges. Dr. Lannister appealed the decision made by the peer review committee and the hospital followed its own bylaws in convening another peer review committee to hear his case. The second peer review committee came to the same conclusion as the first. In arriving at their conclusion, the committee identified the following concerns regarding the quality of Dr. Lannister’s care: Poor clinical judgement and unsatisfactory documentation of medical records. Dr. Lannister sued the hospital and the physicians involved in the peer review process. He argued that they had ruined his defamed his reputation, driven away his patients, and ended his medical career. Based on the holding in Poliner v. Texas Health System, the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA), and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) legislation, how would 7 you recommend the trail court hold in the suit of Dr. Lannister against Northshore Hospital and the physicians on the peer review committee?

Questions:

1. The name of the cause of action or what the lawsuit is about (e.g., negligence, battery, invasion of privacy, defamation, etc.).

2. A very brief (2-3 sentences) summary of the facts as it relates to the cause of action.

3. The rule(s) that should be applied. Include all elements of the rule if it has multiple parts. Define the rule with rule language from the text.

4. How the plaintiff and the defendant would apply the rule for their side so they will win their case at the trial level. How would the plaintiff argue? How would the defendant argue?

5. Likely outcome of the case and your rationale. If applicable, include what your recommended for damages would be for each lawsuit

Answer 1

1) Dr. Lannister has filed a case of defamation lawsuit against the Northshore Hospital and the physicians on the peer review committee. But "negligence lawsuit" against Dr. Lannister.

2)This is a case of negligence on the part of Dr. Lannister during the surgeries he has done. With reference to his past record, the doctor is well-versed medically and is knowledgable. He has a positive proven track record of successful best services to his patients. However due to negligence he has been recently failing at all the surgeries causing life-threatening danger to the patients.

3) Defamation happens when someone falsely accuses one. It points negatively towards one's character and his/her image is tarnished for life.

Negligence is when one fails to provide proper services and causes damage to the victim (here it is the patients).

4) The plaintiff, i.e. Dr. Lannister can claim that despite a proven track record of successful services to patients, the defendent, Northshore hospital and the physicians on the peer review committee are defaming his name and causing severe damage to his reputation. Other the other hand, the defendent can state that the plaintiff has caused not one, not two but several failed procedures in the past few weeks (or months) which have proved to be life-threatening to patients and hence damaged the reputation of the hospital.

5) Since the defendent ( Northshore hospital and the physicians on the peer review committee) has substantial proof to support their statements, they will win the case in court. They can inturn register a defamation lawsuit against Dr. Lannister for the damage caused to the reputation of the Hospital and request the court to charge penalty to the plaintiff.