Court Opinion

ID: 9883901
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:24:20.266749+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:32.823386
License: Public Domain

*832NIERENGARTEN, Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur in the result reached by the majority in this opinion. The rule is clear in Minnesota that termination of treatment rather than discovery of the effects of the negligent treatment governs when a cause of action for medical malpractice accrues. This court is obliged to follow such long standing precedent.
I write separately, however, because I believe it is time for this state to reject the termination of treatment rule, in favor of the “discovery doctrine;” especially in those cases involving erroneous diagnosis.
The rationale underlying the adoption of the termination rule was set forth by the Minnesota Supreme Court in Johnson v. Winthrop Laboratories Division of Sterling Drug, Inc., 291 Minn. 145, 190 N.W.2d 77 (1971):
“ * * * A policy reason [for the rule] is that a patient must repose reliance upon his physician in the completion of the course of curative treatment, a relationship of trust which inhibits the patient’s ability to discover acts of omission or commission constituting malpractice.”
291 Minn. at 150, 190 N.W.2d at 80-81 (citing Swang v. Hauser, 288 Minn. 306, 309, 180 N.W.2d 187, 189-90 (1970).
Although such a policy of promoting mutual confidence between the physician and patient may be persuasive in a case involving a continued course of treatment, in those cases involving a single or isolated treatment adherence to the termination rule and its underlying rationale often brings about harsh and inequitable results for the injured patient.
In Wyler v. Tripi, 25 Ohio St.2d 164, 267 N.E.2d 419 (1971), the Ohio Supreme Court discussed the propriety of the termination rule:
“Although the termination rule is a marked departure from the general rule, [cause of action accrues when negligent act occurs] it affords little relief in cases where the injury is one which requires a long developmental period before becoming dangerous and discoverable. In those situations, the termination rule extends the period at which the statute of limitations commences to run, but does so by a factor which bears no logical relationship to the injury incurred. The termination rule is further fallible in that it requires the patient to determine, at the time the relationship is terminated, that malpractice has taken place, when in fact he may have relied upon the very advice which constitutes malpractice.”
25 Ohio St.2d at 168, 267 N.E.2d at 421 (citations omitted).
Use of the discovery rule eases the harsh results to innocent victims who by exercising even the greatest degree of care could not have known of the cited wrong. By focusing on discovery as the event which triggers the running of the statute of limitations, those who are injured as a result of negligent conduct of the attending physician, which injuries by their nature, may not become known for more than two years after the last treatment, will not be prohibited from seeking redress for such conduct.