Opinion ID: 874409
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The district court erred by granting summary judgment in favor of ICRM on Rebecca's wrongful death claim.

Text: ICRM filed for summary judgment on various grounds, including that ICRM did not proximately cause Curt's death. [1] Rebecca opposed the motion asserting that had Dr. Slater properly informed Curt of his HIV positive status Curt would have received the proper medical and psychiatric care and would not have been subjected to the subsequent medical negligence of Dr. Swanson. The district court granted Rebecca's motion for summary judgment finding that ICRM had a duty to accurately report Curt's HIV positive status and that ICRM breached that duty. The district court found that genuine issues of material fact existed as to whether ICRM was the actual cause of Curt's death. [2] The district court held that no genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether ICRM was the proximate cause of Curt's death and granted summary judgment in favor of ICRM on the wrongful death claim. The district court alternatively held that Curt's suicide was a superseding act which prevents liability for any antecedent negligence committed by ICRM. [3] Rebecca appeals that decision to this Court. The issue of proximate cause and superseding cause will be addressed separately below. Prior to addressing the district court's grant of summary judgment, this Court will address the application of the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 457 (1965) in light of Idaho's comparative fault statute. In the present case, the district court noted that as to an injured person, subsequent medical negligence is foreseeable. However, the [c]ourt finds the applicability of § 457 questionable in light of Idaho's adoption of comparative fault. This Court has not specifically adopted the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 457 and we now determine that the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 457 and I.C. § 6-801 are not inconsistent and the two rules of law may co-exist in Idaho. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 457 states that [i]f the negligent actor is liable for another's bodily injury, he is also subject to liability for any additional bodily harm resulting from normal efforts of third persons in rendering aid which the other's injury reasonably requires. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 457 generally applies to any subsequent medical negligence which is necessary to correct an original act of medical negligence, thereby making acts of subsequent medical negligence generally foreseeable. It is assumed that the district court took issue with the comparative negligence statute, I.C. § 6-801, and the foreseeability of subsequent medical negligence because the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 457 imputes any subsequent liability to the original negligent actor rather than assigning to each actor a percentage of fault as required by the statute. However, because Idaho has adopted comparative fault, the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 457 operates as a general foreseeability rule for any subsequent medical negligence and does not impute liability arising from all subsequent negligent acts onto the original negligent actor. Any liability that is the result of subsequent medical negligence may be reduced by the percentage of fault attributable to each party. This does not affect foreseeability, but rather assigns the jury the task of distributing fault among all liable actors pursuant to I.C. § 6-801. It must also be determined whether Restatement (Second) of Torts § 457 is applicable in this instance because, as the district court noted, any alleged medical negligence committed by Dr. Swanson did not mitigate any bodily harm caused by ICRM. That is, Curt had no knowledge of his HIV positive status; therefore, he could not seek treatment from Dr. Swanson for any bodily harm caused by ICRM. Other jurisdictions have upheld use of the rule in instances where the injury complained about was the result of the failure to timely or properly diagnose a disease. That is, the rule has been used when the subsequent medical treatment was for a purpose other than the treatment of the physical injury. Daly v. U.S., 946 F.2d 1467 (9th Cir.1991) (finding progression of the disease was foreseeable from the misdiagnosis despite similar negligent conduct from subsequent doctors); Deutsch v. Shein, 597 S.W.2d 141 (Ky.1980) (finding that subsequent negligent medical advice to obtain an abortion was foreseeable for failing to diagnose a pregnancy and administrating x-rays thereby exposing the fetus to radiation); Lindquist v. Dengel, 92 Wash.2d 257, 595 P.2d 934 (1979) (finding that the failure to diagnose tuberculosis could foreseeably lead to the unnecessary, and potentially negligent, removal of part of the lung); Davidson v. Gaillard, 584 So.2d 71 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1991) (failure to diagnose reoccurring lymphoma could foreseeably result in subsequent medical negligence and cause the death of the patient); Amu v. Barnes, 286 Ga.App. 725, 650 S.E.2d 288 (2007) (finding that the failure to diagnose colon cancer from complaints of rectal bleeding could foreseeably lead to progression of the disease despite subsequent medical negligence for failure to administer a colonoscopy); Walker v. Giles, 276 Ga.App. 632, 624 S.E.2d 191 (2005) (failing to diagnose a pregnant woman's appendicitis could foreseeably lead to further negligent misdiagnosis and treatment which results in miscarriage, stroke and paralysis). Similarly, Rebecca's complaint alleged that the injury, her emotional distress and Curt's suicide, were the result of ICRM's failure to properly and timely diagnose and treat Curt. The district court incorrectly found that the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 457 does not apply in Idaho and does not apply in this case. Ultimately, the court held that Curt's suicide and the manner of its occurrence [are] so highly unusual that as a matter of law no reasonable person would expect the suicide to occur as a result of the alleged misconduct of the ICRM Defendants in this case. This Court reverses that decision and finds summary judgment inapplicable in the present case because genuine issues of material fact exist as to whether Curt's death was proximately caused by ICRM's negligence and whether Curt's suicide was a supervening act.