Opinion ID: 1058706
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: physician-patient relationship & summary judgment

Text: The defendants, Dr. Cage and Mid-State, assert that they are entitled to summary judgment because, given the evidence in the summary judgment record, no genuine issue of material fact exists with regard to the existence of a physician-patient relationship and that they are entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. The record does not support the defendants' assertion. As stated earlier, the applicable standard of review requires us to examine the evidence and to make all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs and to discard all countervailing evidence; moreover, our review is de novo, with no presumption of correctness. In the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, the opponents to the motion for summary judgment, the evidence establishes that Mrs. Kelley had suffered a heart attack on April 18, 1999, and was seen and treated by Dr. William Fleet, an associate of Dr. John Cage at Mid-State. The evidence also establishes that Dr. Anderson, the emergency room physician who treated Mrs. Kelley on June 10, 1999, placed a telephone call to Dr. Fleet for advice concerning Mrs. Kelley's treatment. When Dr. Anderson was unable to reach Dr. Fleet, he spoke instead with Dr. Cage, who was covering for Dr. Fleet. [16] Dr. Anderson informed Dr. Cage that Mrs. Kelley had presented to the emergency room with chest pain which she described as similar to that she experienced with her heart attack two months earlier. Dr. Cage inquired as to whether a cardiac catheterization had been performed and whether there had been any intervention. Dr. Anderson read verbatim the medical records detailing Mrs. Kelley's partially occluded left anterior descending artery and informed Dr. Cage that there had been no intervention. After Dr. Anderson provided detailed information concerning Mrs. Kelley's history and her present status based upon his examination and upon diagnostic tests, Dr. Anderson and Dr. Cage discussed how to treat Ms. Kelley's current chest pain. Dr. Cage concluded that Mrs. Kelley should be treated with medication and released with instructions to follow-up with her regular physician. Dr. Anderson followed this advice, releasing Mrs. Kelley from the hospital, and Mrs. Kelley died seven days later of heart failure. The facts in the record present disputed issues as to the existence of a physician-patient relationship between Dr. Cage and Mrs. Kelley. In reaching that conclusion, we emphatically reject the defendants' assertion that the undisputed facts show that Dr. Cage's actions relating to Mrs. Kelley amounted to nothing more than a so-called curbside consultation. [17] Under the applicable standard of review, the facts (as summarized above) do not involve a curbside consultation. We express no opinion as to the issue of whether a duty of care might arise in a situation involving an actual curbside consultation. [18]