Opinion ID: 1346296
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Alleged Abandonment of Patient.

Text: Plaintiff's first legal argument asserts that the trial court erred in not submitting abandonment of patient to the jury as a separate claim of fault. The district court ruled that the alleged inattention to plaintiff's medical needs related to omissions occurring during a continuing course of treatment. The court thus viewed the issue for the jury to be whether there had been negligent treatment rather than whether there had been abandonment. We agree with that conclusion. When a physician takes charge of a case, that employment continues until ended by mutual consent, the physician's dismissal by the patient, or the medical situation becoming one in which the physician's services are no longer needed. McGulpin v. Bessmer, 241 Iowa 1119, 1127, 43 N.W.2d 121, 125 (1950); Surgical Consultants, P.C. v. Ball, 447 N.W.2d 676, 682 (Iowa App.1989). Abandonment and lack of diligence in patient treatment are separate theories of medical malpractice. Smith v. Lerner, 387 N.W.2d 576, 577 (Iowa 1986). Abandonment involves an unwarranted termination of the professional relationship. Id. Viewed most favorably to the plaintiff, the evidence falls short of presenting a situation in which plaintiff's doctors can be found to have terminated their relationship with her during the course of her care. Instead, the matters of which she complains involve medical judgments as to frequency of the doctors' contacts with the patient throughout a continuing course of treatment. These alleged omissions were properly submitted to the jury under a general claim of medical negligence. The district court did not err in failing to submit a separate issue concerning abandonment.