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Date: 02-22-2024
Case Style:
Wendy C. Coram, et al. v. Jimmy C. Brasfield, M.D., et al.
Case Number: C1623M
Judge: John S. McLellan, III
Court: Circuit Court, Sullivan County, Tennessee
Plaintiff's Attorney:
Defendant's Attorney: Russell W. Adkinsor Brasfield
Frank H. Anderson for Ballard Health and Bristol Regional Medical Center
Description:
Blountville, Tennessee personal injury medical malpractice lawyer represented the Plaintiffs.
On October 21, 2020, Jimmy C. Brasfield ("Dr. Brasfield") of American Physician Partners at Bristol Regional Medical Center ("Bristol Regional") performed back surgery on Wendy Coram. According to her complaint, Mrs. Coram complained to Dr. Brasfield about pain, weakness, and paresthesia during a follow-up appointment on October 22, 2020. On October 24, 2020, Mrs. Coram presented to the Bristol Regional emergency room with post-surgical complications. By October 25, 2020, she was complaining of severe pain in, and an inability to move, her right leg. Dr. Brasfield ordered an MRI at approximately 5:07 p.m. which, according to the complaint, showed bleeding. Mrs. Coram underwent a second surgery around 8:00 p.m. on October 25, 2020.
On September 7, 2021, Mrs. Coram and her husband, Robert Coram (together, "Plaintiffs" or "Appellants"), sent a pre-suit notice via certified mail to several of Mrs. Coram's medical providers: Dr. Brasfield; Mark Mehlferber, PAC; Ralph Fig, Jr., PAC; American Physician Partners, PSO, LLC[1]; Hetvie Kiritkumar Joshi, MD; Ballad Health; Bristol Regional; Ballad Health Medical Associates Family Medicine; and Michael K. Patrick, MD (together, "Defendants" or "Appellees"). Attached to the pre-suit notice was a HIPAA[2] authorization. The authorization provides that Mrs. Coram's birth year is 1971, when in fact she was born in 1977. It is undisputed that Mrs. Coram's information is correct in the pre-suit notice form to which the HIPAA authorization is attached. On October 29, 2021, Plaintiffs' counsel sent a letter via certified mail to each of the defendant medical providers with a corrected HIPAA authorization attached.
Plaintiffs filed their complaint against Defendants in the Circuit Court for Sullivan County ("trial court") on December 21, 2021. Plaintiffs alleged that Defendants failed to recognize and/or perform to the applicable standard of care and that Defendants' negligent conduct caused Mrs. Coram to suffer, inter alia, partial paralysis and severe pain in her lumbar spine and right leg. Mr. Coram alleged a claim for loss of consortium.
On February 14, 2022, Dr. Brasfield and Mr. Mehlferber filed a motion to dismiss the claims against them, arguing that the erroneous birth year on Mrs. Coram's HIPAA authorization constituted a failure to comply with the pre-suit notice requirements of
3
Tennessee Code Annotated section 29-26-121(a)(2)(E). They also argued that the October 29, 2021 letter and corrected HIPAA authorization could not remedy the deficiency in the pre-suit notice because (1) it was sent after the one-year statute of limitations ran, and (2) it was sent less than sixty days before Plaintiffs filed their complaint. The remaining defendants also filed a motion to dismiss on February 24, 2022, raising largely the same arguments.
The trial court held a hearing in August of 2022,[3] and another hearing on September 15, 2022. At the September 15, 2022 hearing, the trial court announced that it was granting Defendants' motions to dismiss. The trial court entered its final order on October 7, 2022. In relevant part, the order provides:
The Court finds that the Plaintiffs' original notice of intent included a defective medical authorization. Due to the Plaintiffs' failure to substantially comply with the requirements of Tennessee Code Annotated § 29-26-121(a)(2)(E), the one-year statute of limitations applicable to the Plaintiffs' health care liability action was not extended, and thus, ran prior to the filing of Plaintiff's original Complaint on December 21, 2021 inasmuch as the alleged acts of negligence occurred in October of 2020. Extraordinary cause does not exist to excuse the Plaintiffs' noncompliance with the requirements of Tennessee Code Annotated § 29-26-121. The second notice of intent was provided by the Plaintiffs after the statute of limitations had run, and therefore, it was untimely. Pursuant to the Court of Appeals' holding in J.A.C. by &through Carter v. Methodist Healthcare Memphis Hosps., 542 S.W.3d 502, 520 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2016), a notice of intent is not a pleading, and consequently, Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 15 does not apply. Thus, the second notice of intent does not relate back to the original notice of intent.
Plaintiffs filed a timely notice of appeal.
Coram v. Brasfield, E2022-01619-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. App. Feb 22, 2024)
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Coram v. Brasfield, E2022-01619-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. App. Feb 22, 2024)
Outcome: Reversed
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: