Opinion ID: 1788690
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Fradulent Concealment

Text: Appellant argues that the statute of limitations did not begin to run on her claim against Appellee Dr. Zufari until he had dictated his discharge summary on August 30, 1992, approximately one and one-half months after the decedent's death. Appellant makes two separate, unrelated arguments in support of this point. In the first instance, Appellant argues that the statute of limitations should have been tolled until the doctor completed his discharge summary because it would be unfair and inequitable otherwise. Appellant then proceeds to analyze her assertion under the continuous-treatment doctrine. We find no similarity between a doctor's failure to dictate an immediate written report and a doctor's continuous treatment of a patient, especially in this case, as the decedent died prior to the time Dr. Zufari completed his report. Appellant's argument that the decedent was under Dr. Zufari's continual treatment even after she had died is clearly not well grounded in law and no authority is offered to support this contention. Assignments of error that are unsupported by convincing argument or authority, will not be considered on appeal where it is not apparent without further research that they are well taken. Moorman v. Priest, 310 Ark. 525, 837 S.W.2d 886 (1992). In the second instance, Appellant contends that Dr. Zufari fraudulently concealed his alleged negligence when he referred to the findings made by Dr. Jennings concerning the decedent's suitability for surgery. The offending statement in Dr. Zufari's discharge summary reads: His impression was cholelithiasis, abnormal EKG without documented evidence of coronary artery disease, and suspect her EKG may well be abnormal variant. Appellant asserts that this statement concerning Dr. Jennings's finding of an abnormal EKG without documented evidence of coronary artery disease constituted fraudulent concealment because Dr. Zufari was allegedly aware of such documented evidence from a previous testing of the decedent in July 1990. Appellant does not, however, explain how Dr. Zufari's reference to what another doctor concluded rises to the level of an attempt by Dr. Zufari to fraudulently conceal his own alleged negligence. Again, as above, we decline to address this argument because Appellant has cited no convincing authority or argument in support of her allegation.