Opinion ID: 2559203
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Appellant's Complaint Alleged Ordinary Negligence

Text: Consistent with Merlini, and the terms of Rule 1042.3, I believe the proper approach in discerning whether a claim alleges a deviation from an acceptable professional standard in the health care settingi.e., whether a cause of action sounds in ordinary negligence or professional negligenceshould include an analysis of whether the actions complained of involve technical complexity or esoteric issues involving medical judgment beyond the realm of common knowledge and experience, or are matters of nonmedical, administrative, ministerial, or routine service, which a jury is competent to determine. Turning to the specific averments made in Appellant's complaint, it is plain to me that Appellant raises a cause of action sounding in ordinary negligence. [5] Specifically, in her amended complaint, Appellant avers that the victim died as a result of injuries sustained in a fall from her bed. Amended Complaint at ¶ 3. More specifically, and as noted above, Appellant claims that Verdier was left unattended, and that Appellee failed to ensure that proper restraints were in place; failed to use reasonable safety devices; and allowed her to fall from her bed. Amended Complaint at ¶ 10. Finally, Appellee contends Verdier ultimately died [a]s a direct and proximate result of the injuries she sustained after falling from her bed. Amended Complaint at ¶ 12. Falling from a hospital bed does not implicate medical skills associated with specialized training that concern accepted professional standards. Indeed, it is evident that this question is not one of great technical complexity, but, rather, involves a matter of nonmedical, administrative, ministerial, or routine service. Moreover, while Appellant's claims occurred within the course of Verdier's stay at a hospital, Appellant's assertions do not raise questions involving medical judgment beyond the realm of common knowledge and experience, and, in my mind, do not raise questions of medical judgment at all. Even accepting, arguendo, that, in certain circumstances not present here, allegations regarding a lack of restraints, leaving the victim unattended, and failing to use necessary safety devices may sound in professional negligence, allowing an 85-year-old stroke victim to fall from a bed raises only questions of ordinary negligence, and the lower tribunals erred in holding otherwise. As a complaint may allege both professional negligence and ordinary negligence against the same defendant, at a minimum, this single claim of negligence for allowing Verdier to fall from her bed while being transported should survive. Rostock v. Anzalone, 904 A.2d 943 (Pa.Super.2006) (concerning complaint alleging both professional negligence and ordinary negligence for failure to send copies of diagnostic studies, claims of ordinary negligence would survive even in the absence of a certificate of merit). We require our procedural rules to be liberally construed to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action or proceeding to which they are applicable. Pa.R.Civ.P. 126. The certificate of merit requirement in Rule 1042.3 was intended to be a shield against frivolous claims of professional liability against medical and other professionals alleging a deviation from acceptable professional standards, but never as a sword to strike down potentially meritorious claims sounding in ordinary negligence. The rationale espoused by the Superior Court, and now left standing by our Court, in essence deletes the word professional from the language of Rule 1042.3, exposing any complaint alleging negligence by an agent or employee of a health care facility, even a claim as legally unexceptional as a patient falling from a bed, to dismissal if it does not contain a certificate of merit. Indeed, not every act by a professional or his or her subordinates involves professional standards or judgments. Some simply require common sense. Although the requirement of a certificate of merit is well-intentioned, the dismissal of a complaint due to the lack of a certificate, where ordinary negligence is alleged, unjustly denies a party resolution of his or her claims on their meritsan outcome never intended by enactment of the rule. See generally Melinda L. Stroub, Note, The Unforeseen Creation of a Procedural MinefieldNew Jersey's Affidavit of Merit Statute Spurs Litigation and Expense in Its Interpretation and Application, 34 Rutgers L.J. 279 (2002).