Opinion ID: 853638
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mayhue v. Sparkman

Text: In Mayhue, this Court held that Section 323 of the Restatement of Torts was the appropriate mode of analysis of a claim for injuries that had been sustained (the patient had died), but which were more likely than not to have occurred even in the absence of any negligence (the patient's ultimate injury was more probable than not before treatment). See 653 N.E.2d at 1388-89. Section 323, Negligent Performance of Undertaking to Render Services, states: One who undertakes, gratuitously or for consideration, to render services to another which he should recognize as necessary for the protection of the other's person or things, is subject to liability to the other for physical harm resulting from his failure to exercise reasonable care to perform his undertaking if, (a) his failure to exercise reasonable care increases the risk of such harm, or (b) the harm is suffered because of the other's reliance upon the undertaking. Specifically, under Section 323, a jury may consider, once the plaintiff proves negligence and an increase in the risk of harm, ... whether the medical malpractice was a substantial factor in causing the harm suffered by the plaintiff. Id. at 1388. Section 323's formulation, by its terms, presupposes that physical harm has resulted from the negligent care. In Mayhue, because the patient had died, the ultimate physical harm was already known. We held that the plaintiff's spouse could, under Section 323, maintain his cause of action for loss of consortium even though the experts agreed that, in the absence of the defendant's negligence, it was still more likely than not that the plaintiff would have died. See id. at 1387-89. We distinguished Section 323 from what was dubbed a pure loss of chance doctrine, which compensates for the loss of chance itself and not for the plaintiff's physical injury that was incurred but likely even before the defendant's act or omission. In a pure loss of chance case, [t]he compensable injury is not the result, which is usually death, but the reduction in the probability that the patient would recover or obtain better results if the defendant had not been negligent. Id. at 1387-88. In Mayhue, because the plaintiff was seeking damages for loss of consortium that resulted from his wife's death, rather than for the loss of his wife's chance for recovery, we were not faced with whether to compensate a plaintiff for the loss of chance itself. The defendants argue that in Mayhue this Court rejected the loss of chance doctrine, and that, left with Section 323 as their remedy, the Alexanders cannot recover because JoAnn has not yet suffered a recurrence. The Court of Appeals has agreed with this interpretation of Mayhue, finding that this Court specifically rejected the loss of chance doctrine in favor of Section 323. See Smith v. Washington, 716 N.E.2d 607, 614 n. 3 (Ind.Ct.App.1999); Cahoon v. Cummings, 715 N.E.2d 1, 6-7 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). The Alexanders, on the other hand, assert that this Court adopted the loss of chance doctrine in Mayhue, finding support for this hypothesis in the following language: Accepting the § 323 approach does not require a separate loss of chance doctrine. 653 N.E.2d at 1389 (emphasis in original). According to plaintiffs, the emphasis of the word separate signals the incorporation of the loss of chance doctrine into this Court's Section 323 analysis. The plaintiffs contend that, in adopting Section 323, which provides a cause of action when the defendant, by his or her negligence, increases the risk of harm to a plaintiff, this Court has already recognized the viability of a cause of action for the increased risk of harm itself. Mayhue left unresolved the issue presented by the Alexanders' claim. Mayhue explicitly pointed out that it dealt with a claim for a patient who had died, allegedly as the result of negligent treatment. Because the patient in Mayhue was seriously ill before treatment, the case addressed whether a plaintiff may maintain a cause of action for medical malpractice even though traditional causation standards may not be satisfied. In contrast, here the issue is whether a reduced chance of survival, which mathematically equates to a decrease in life expectancy, is itself a compensable injury. If it is, a plaintiff may recover for this injury, independently of whether the plaintiff has or has not actually beaten the odds to date.