Court Opinion

ID: 9649924
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:14:21.405072+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:15.916455
License: Public Domain

ELDRIDGE, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in both the result ■ and the Court’s opinion, subject, however, to the following understanding. I do not read the Court’s opinion to foreclose reconsideration by the Court of the decision in Weimer v. Hetrick, 309 Md. 536, 525 A.2d 643 (1987), in a future case where the issue is properly raised on appeal. In the present case, we have before us only the survival claim. As I understand the opinion, the policy reasons delineated by the Court for refusing to allow recovery of loss of chance damages relate *795solely to survival actions. With regard to wrongful death actions, the balance may be struck differently.
All of the opinions in this case recognize that a “good argument can be made that damages ought to be recoverable when, due to doctor’s negligence, a patient loses a substantial, though less than probable, chance of survival.” If recoverable, those damages would be appropriate in a wrongful death action and not in a survival action. The decision in Weimer v. Hetrick, supra, holding that such damages are not recoverable in a wrongful death action, should be reconsidered by this Court in an appropriate case.
Judge COLE has authorized me to state that he joins in this opinion.
McAULIFFE, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result. I agree with the statement made in the Court’s opinion that “[a] good argument can be made that damages ought to be recoverable when, due to a doctor’s negligence, a patient loses a substantial, though less than probable, chance of survival.” If damages are to be recoverable for such a loss, however, it should not be because the traditional requirement of causation is relaxed. Rather, recovery should be based on recognition that deprivation of a substantial chance of survival is, in itself, a loss which can be valued and compensated.
The damages that should be allowed ought to, as closely as possible, match the value of what has been lost. Allowing only the type of damage that would be recoverable in a survival action would not accomplish that goal. Pecuniary and solatium damages, ordinarily recoverable only in a wrongful death action, must be included if the award is to properly reflect the loss. These damages, would of course, be proportionate to the amount of the chance that was lost.
The Court has held that the statutory cause of action for wrongful death does not permit a claim for damages arising from loss of a chance of survival. Weimer v. Hetrick, 309 Md. 536, 554, 525 A.2d 643 (1987). Thus, it is appropriate to *796turn first to the legislature for a change in the law relating to recovery of a wrongful death-type damages. Moreover, there are other significant problems and policy decisions to be addressed if recovery is allowed for the loss of a chance of survival, and a comprehensive package of legislation is obviously preferable to piecemeal judicial change in matters of this kind.