Harrison v. Binnion

214 P.3d 631, 147 Idaho 645, 2009 Ida. LEXIS 109
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 7, 2009
Docket34731
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 214 P.3d 631 (Harrison v. Binnion) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harrison v. Binnion, 214 P.3d 631, 147 Idaho 645, 2009 Ida. LEXIS 109 (Idaho 2009).

Opinions

EISMANN, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from: (a) an order denying a motion to amend the complaint to assert a claim of negligent eredentialing against a hospital; (b) an order refusing to order discovery of certain medical records provided by a physician to the board of medicine; and (c) the granting of summary judgment in favor of an emergency room physi[647]*647cian. We reverse the order of the district court holding that Idaho Code § 39-1392e grants immunity from a claim for negligent credentialing. We decline to decide the issue of whether certain medical records provided to the board of medicine were privileged because the appellant did not name the physician claiming that privilege as a respondent to this appeal. We affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of the emergency room physician. Finally, we decline to award the emergency room physician attorney fees on appeal.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On November 14, 2003, at about 11:35 p.m., H. Ray Harrison arrived at the emergency room (ER) of Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center (Hospital). His symptoms included nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, imbalance, and speech impediment. According to his family, Harrison’s condition had been deteriorating over the preceding seven weeks, with episodes of vomiting and diarrhea occurring three or four times a day. Julie Anderson, his significant other whom he later married, reported that for the prior three days he had not consumed anything other than alcoholic beverages. A nurse drew blood from Harrison for necessary chemistry panels, including a basic metabolic panel of blood tests called a Chem 7.

Dr. Binnion was working in the ER that night. At about 1:00 a.m. she began her assessment of Harrison. About forty minutes later, she received lab results from the Chem 7 showing that Harrison’s blood sodium level was 96 milliequivalents per liter (mEq/L), a low level of sodium that was life-threatening. The lab results also showed that Harrison’s blood alcohol content was 0.13. Dr. Binnion ordered that Harrison be given an intravenous (IV) saline solution at the rate of 200 cc’s per hour. The saline IV was started at 1:50 a.m. and was replaced at 2:20 a.m.

Dr. Binnion could not admit Harrison into the hospital. At about 2:25 a.m. she telephoned Dr. Hartford, who was the on-call physician for Harrison’s treating physician. Dr. Hartford agreed to admit Harrison into the hospital. Dr. Binnion suggested that Harrison be admitted to the telemetry unit, but Dr. Hartford thought that it would be too stimulating in light of Harrison’s alcohol abuse and that he should be admitted to the medical floor. Dr. Binnion wrote the admission orders for Dr. Hartford. Those orders included that Harrison be given IV sodium at 200 cc’s per hour and that Harrison have blood draws every six hours for a Chem 7 test. Apparently because of the lack of available beds in the medical unit, Harrison was admitted to the orthopedic unit at 3:26 a.m. At that point, Dr. Binnion was no longer responsible for Harrison’s care.

Dr. Hartford first saw Harrison at 11:17 a.m. on November 15, 2003. By that time, results of the second Chem 7 test done at 6:00 a.m. showed a sodium level of 105 mEq/L. After reviewing the medical records and examining Harrison, Dr. Hartford wrote his treatment plan. It included IV sodium at 200 cc’s per hour and a Chem 7 test done every six hours.

Dr. Hartford continued the saline IV until 10:00 a.m. on November 17, 2003. During that period, Harrison’s sodium levels continued to increase to 110 mEq/L at 12:27 p.m. on November 15, 2003; to 114 mEq/L at 5:58 p.m. on November 15, 2003; to 124 mEq/L at 3:57 a.m. on November 16, 2003; and to 126 mEq/L at 10:10 a.m. on November 16, 2003.

Harrison’s condition continued to deteriorate under Dr. Hartford’s care. On November 22, 2003, another physician diagnosed Harrison as suffering from central pontine myelinolysis (CPM), a condition in which the myelin sheath covering brainstem nerve cells is destroyed which prevents nerve signals being transmitted properly. CPM is caused by a too rapid change in sodium levels in the body. Harrison contends that his CPM was caused by his sodium level rising too rapidly.

On April 28, 2004, Harrison and Anderson (Plaintiffs) filed this action against Drs. Hartford and Binnion and the Hospital alleging that they were negligent in their treatment of Harrison and that they also committed the torts of negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress. On November 15, 2005, Plaintiffs filed a motion to [648]*648amend their complaint to allege that the Hospital was negligent in credentialing Dr. Hartford. After the motion was briefed and argued, the district court denied the motion to amend. It held that there was no cause of action in Idaho for negligent credentialing because Idaho Code § 39-1392e granted the Hospital immunity from such a claim.

During the litigation, the Plaintiffs served interrogatories and requests for production upon Dr. Hartford seeking information regarding any substance abuse treatment he had received and whether he had been disciplined by the Idaho Board of Medicine. Dr. Hartford objected to this discovery, and on May 26, 2005, the Plaintiffs filed a motion to compel discovery. The district court held that under Idaho Rule of Evidence 503, Dr. Hartford had a privilege to refuse to disclose communications made for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment of alcohol or drug addiction and that Dr. Hartford had not waived that privilege by disclosing the information to the Idaho Board of Medicine. The court also held that under Idaho Code § 39-308, the fact of whether Dr. Hartford had obtained treatment through a certified substance abuse treatment program was also privileged. The court therefore denied the motion to compel to the extent that it sought discovery of such privileged information.

The Plaintiffs then sought to obtain from the Idaho Board of Medicine documents that had been entered as exhibits during an administrative disciplinary hearing regarding Dr. Hartford. On April 3, 2006, Dr. Hartford filed a motion for a protective order seeking to prevent disclosure of those documents to the extent that they consist of records relating to substance abuse treatment. He also sought redaction of any references to substance abuse treatment in letters from his former attorney to the Board of Medicine. The district court granted that motion.

The Plaintiffs ultimately settled their claims against Dr. Hartford. Pursuant to stipulation, on August 29, 2006, the district court entered an order dismissing with prejudice the Plaintiffs’ claims against Dr. Hartford.

On April 27, 2007, Dr. Binnion moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the Plaintiffs’ expert did not show that he was familiar with the applicable standard of care and there was no evidence that any alleged negligence by Dr. Binnion was a proximate cause of any harm to Harrison. After briefing and argument, the district court granted the motion on the ground that there was no evidence of causation with respect to the alleged negligence of Dr. Binnion. The district court also held that the Plaintiffs’ expert had not familiarized himself with the applicable standard of care.

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Harrison v. Binnion
214 P.3d 631 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2009)

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Bluebook (online)
214 P.3d 631, 147 Idaho 645, 2009 Ida. LEXIS 109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harrison-v-binnion-idaho-2009.