Where an HCLA plaintiff filed unsigned HIPAA authorizations with her complaint, but at least one defendant admitted that the HIPAA authorization it received was actually signed, dismissal was reversed. In Buckner v. Complete Wellness Chiropractic Center, No. E2024-00698-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. May 15, 2025), the plaintiff suffered long-term complications after…
Where a HIPAA authorization had blanks beside the names of all the providers listed under who was authorized to make disclosures, but none of the blanks were marked or checked, the HIPAA authorization was not compliant with the HCLA requirements. In Crenshaw v. Methodist Healthcare- Memphis Hospitals, No. W2024-00682-COA-R3-CV (Tenn.…
Statements made that were related to a QIC meeting on a patient’s care were subject to the QIC privilege, but the hospital administrator waived that privilege to the extent he disclosed the privileged information to the patient’s family. In Castillo v. Rex, No. E2022-00322-SC-R11-CV (Tenn. May 9, 2025), the plaintiff…
Where an HCLA plaintiff provided incomplete HIPAA authorizations with his pre-suit notice, the trial court should have granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. In Elmore v. Mills, No. E2023-01064-COA-R9-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 31, 2025), the plaintiff filed an HCLA suit against multiple defendants based on decedent’s death, who aspirated…
Where an HCLA plaintiff added a claim for wrongful death to her health care liability action after her husband passed away, but she failed to file a certificate of good faith with her amended complaint, dismissal was affirmed. In Allen v. Dehner, No. M2023-01750-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Feb. 5, 2025),…
A doctor’s experience in an emergency room did not make him competent to testify under the HCLA about the post-surgical care the plaintiff received. In Hurley v. Pickens, No. E2023-01610-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Mar. 4, 2025), the plaintiff filed a health care liability claim based on the care he received…
Because the HIPAA authorizations included with a health care liability plaintiff’s pre-suit notice included limiting language, the authorizations did not comply with the HCLA and thus plaintiff’s medical malpractice claims were dismissed. In Curtis v. Sharp, No. E2023-01583-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 29, 2025), the plaintiff sent pre-suit notice of…
The 120-day extension of the statute of limitations granted to health care liability plaintiffs who give proper pre-suit notice under the HCLA does not apply to or extend the Saving Statute. The Tennessee Supreme Court addressed the interplay between pre-suit notice, the 120-day statute of limitations extension, and the Saving…
In a Tennessee health care liability (HCLA)d case based on the defendants’ failure to disclose CT scan results to the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs could not rely on fraudulent concealment to toll the statute of repose where the defendants were unaware of the undisclosed test results. The plaintiff patient in…
Because an HCLA (Medical Malpractice) plaintiff is required to prove the elements of his claim through expert testimony, summary judgment was affirmed after the trial court applied the cancellation rule to plaintiff’s expert’s conflicting testimony regarding damages. In Simmons v. Islam, No. M2023-01698-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 3, 2024), the…