Court Opinion

ID: 9724385
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:55:10.091108+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:59.914567
License: Public Domain

SHORT, Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent because I believe occupational therapists are “health care professionals” within the meaning of the two-year statute of limitations. See Minn. Stat. § 541.07(1) (1988). The statute is ambiguous because it refers to the definitions of “professional” and “health care” but does not define the entire term “health care professional.” See Kaiser v. Memorial Blood Center of Minneapolis, Inc., 721 F.Supp. 1073, 1075 n. 2 (D.Minn.1989); see also Minn.Stat. § 145.61, subds. 2, 4 (1988). Merely combining these two definitions makes little sense and does not clearly delineate who is a health care professional. See Kaiser, 721 F.Supp. at 1075 n. 2.
It would be inequitable to treat the occupational therapists in this case differently than other health care professionals such as nurses, chiropractors, or physical therapists. Moreover, I do not believe the legislature intended to impose a two-year period for suit against an occupational therapist employed by a hospital, while imposing a six-year period against an identically trained and practicing occupational therapist not employed by a hospital. See Tackleson v. Abbott-Northwestern Hosp., Inc., 416 N.W.2d 454, 455 (Minn.1987) (applying two-year limitation period to nurses, as employees of hospitals). There is no logical basis for having two different time periods for an occupational therapist’s conduct, depending on where the therapist is employed. See id. Because occupational therapists are health care professionals, the trial court properly granted summary judgment against appellant for failing to commence her malpractice claim within the two-year limitation period. Resolving the case in this manner treats independent occupational therapists the same as occupational therapists affiliated with a hospital, and it recognizes the important place and function of occupational therapists in our state’s overall health care system. See Kaiser, 721 F.Supp. at 1076.