Branch v. Willis-Knighton Medical Center

607 So. 2d 883, 1992 WL 310211
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 28, 1992
Docket24175-CW
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 607 So. 2d 883 (Branch v. Willis-Knighton Medical Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Branch v. Willis-Knighton Medical Center, 607 So. 2d 883, 1992 WL 310211 (La. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

607 So.2d 883 (1992)

Jerry Wayne BRANCH, et ux, Plaintiffs-Respondents
v.
WILLIS-KNIGHTON MEDICAL CENTER, Defendant-Relator.

No. 24175-CW.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

October 28, 1992.

*884 Nelson & Hammons by John L. Hammons, Shreveport, for plaintiffs-respondents.

Mayer, Smith & Roberts by Caldwell Roberts, Jr., Shreveport, for defendant-relator.

Before MARVIN, HIGHTOWER, VICTORY, BROWN and STEWART, JJ.

STEWART, Judge.

Jerry Wayne Branch and his wife, Gnever M. Branch, filed suit against Willis-Knighton Medical Center in September 1990, alleging that Mr. Branch contracted hepatitis from blood administered to him while he was hospitalized at Willis-Knighton from June 19, 1976 through August 4, 1976. The plaintiffs alleged that Mr. Branch sought medical care in late August or early September 1989, and that following a liver biopsy performed on or about September 6, 1989, Mr. Branch was advised by a physician that he might be suffering from hepatitis.

Willis-Knighton filed a peremptory exception of prescription which was denied by the trial court. We then granted a writ of certiorari to review the denial of the exception. For the reasons which follow, we reverse the judgment of the trial court, holding that under the provisions of LSA-R.S. 9:5628, plaintiffs' action is untimely.

APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF LSA-R.S. 9:5628

The pertinent provision of LSA-R.S. 9:5628 states:

No action for damages for injury or death against any ... hospital duly licensed under the laws of this state ... whether based upon tort, or breach of contract, or otherwise, arising out of patient care shall be brought unless filed within one year from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect, or within one year from the date of discovery of the alleged act, omission, or neglect; however, even as to claims filed within one year from the date of such discovery, in all events such claims shall be filed at the latest within a period of three years from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect.

The statute, with its three-year outside limit on filing claims, was enacted prior to the time Mr. Branch received blood from Willis-Knighton. Accordingly, the hospital, which is "duly licensed under the laws of this state", argues that the plaintiffs' claims are prescribed because they are filed more than three years from the time Mr. Branch received the allegedly contaminated blood.

On the other hand, plaintiffs argue that they have stated a cause of action in products *885 liability. The plaintiffs' petition clearly attempts to state a claim in products liability, asserting that the hospital is liable to plaintiffs for harm suffered as a result of "the sale and administration of the defective product, i.e., contaminated blood." The plaintiffs rely on DeBattista v. Argonaut-Southwest Insurance Company, 403 So.2d 26 (La.1981), in which the Louisiana Supreme Court concluded that blood contaminated with hepatitis virus was defective, and that the blood bank which distributed the contaminated blood was liable in tort under the provisions of LSA-C.C. Art. 2315.

Although DeBattista was overruled legislatively in 1981 by the provisions of LSA-R.S. 9:2797 and LSA-C.C. Art. 2322.1, which define distribution and transfusion of blood as medical services not subject to strict liability or warranties of any kind without negligence, plaintiffs point out that in Faucheaux v. Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation Hospital and Clinic, 470 So.2d 878 (La.1985), the Louisiana Supreme Court held that the legal provisions overruling DeBattista could not be applied retroactively. Thus, plaintiffs argue that the proper prescriptive period in this case is one year under the provisions of LSA-C.C. Art. 3492, which establish a liberative prescription of one year for tort actions, including liability without negligence. See LSA-C.C. Art. 3492, Comment (b).

Because plaintiffs argue that the one-year prescription in tort applies, they further argue that instead of the three-year outside limit of 9:5628 being applicable to their claims, the tolling effect of the principle of contra non valentem agere nulla currit prescriptio has application. This legal principle, under which prescription does not run against a person unable to bring an action, is argued to be applicable because Mr. Branch allegedly did not discover that his medical problems resulted from the blood transfusion until less than one year from the date suit was filed.

Generally, one set of factual circumstances can give rise to more than one cause of action, with each cause of action having its own prescriptive period. See Jackson v. Zito, 314 So.2d 401 (La.App. 1st Cir.1975). Therefore, if the provisions of 9:5628 (entitled "Actions for medical malpractice") simply used the term "medical malpractice claims" when establishing time limits, a claim for products liability arguably might be unaffected. However, the actual wording of 9:5628, which is both plain and unambiguous, renders such an argument unpersuasive in this case.

As previously mentioned, under the provisions of 9:5628 no action for damages for injury or death, arising out of patient care, whether based upon tort, or breach of contract, or otherwise, can be brought against the listed health care providers more than three years from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect. Without question, plaintiffs' action falls within the broad language of the statute. Plaintiffs' action is based upon tort, but even if the action could escape this categorization, it still would fall within the broad residual category "or otherwise".[1] The intent of the legislature in fashioning such broad language was to establish a statute of limitations which applies to actions seeking *886 damages for injury or death "arising out of patient care", regardless of the underlying legal theory of recovery. Furthermore, the discovery aspect of the doctrine of contra non valentem does not apply in such cases when the action is brought more than three years from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect. See Dunn v. North Community Hospital, 545 So.2d 1267 (La.App.), writ denied, 550 So.2d 633 (La.1989).

We also observe that this is not a case in which the alleged act arguably does not arise out of patient care. While the legislature did not intend to subject health care providers to liability for all defective things in their custody which cause injury to a patient, Sewell v. Doctors Hospital, 600 So.2d 577 (La.1992), we hold that the legislature did intend for actions subject to the time limitations of 9:5628 (i.e. those "arising out of patient care") to include those instances in which treatment directly involves defective things that cause injury to patients.[2] Accordingly, even though the transfusion of contaminated blood involves a defective product under DeBattista, supra, the blood used in the transfusion plainly is related directly to treatment and is subject to the provisions of 9:5628.

Finally, we observe that similar factual circumstances were presented in Shortess v. Touro Infirmary, 520 So.2d 389 (La.1988), in which the plaintiff received blood contaminated with hepatitis during a transfusion occurring in November 1980. As in the instant case, the transfusion took place prior to the legislative overruling of DeBattista, supra.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Williams v. Jackson Parish Hospital
798 So. 2d 921 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2001)
Guste v. Hibernia Nat. Bank in New Orleans
655 So. 2d 724 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1995)
Branch v. Willis-Knighton Medical Center
636 So. 2d 211 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1994)
LeBlanc v. Meza
620 So. 2d 521 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1993)
Doe v. American National Red Cross
500 N.W.2d 264 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
607 So. 2d 883, 1992 WL 310211, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/branch-v-willis-knighton-medical-center-lactapp-1992.