Successful Motion for Summary Judgment in Medical Malpractice Claim against Hospice Physician

Plaintiff filed a claim for Medical Malpractice/Wrongful Death against nineteen defendants, including his two siblings, arising from the palliative care received by their mother, an 86 year old woman on hospice care. Plaintiff alleged that his siblings failed to advise the medical defendants that their mother had an Advance Health Care Directive which listed Plaintiff as a person authorized to make medical decisions on his mother’s behalf. Plaintiff further alleged that his siblings conspired to hasten their mother’s death by administering lethal doses of pain medication and that the medical defendants were negligent in prescribing this medication.

After extensive law and motion on multiple versions of the complaint, Ms. Perez brought a Motion for Summary Judgment on a technicality regarding the ineffective service of the Code of Civil Procedure Section 364 Notice of Intent which plaintiff relied upon to extend the one-year statute of limitations by ninety (90) days before serving the initial complaint. The Court agreed that plaintiff failed to avail himself of the readily obtainable address on the Osteopathic Medical Board for service of the Notice of Intent. A valid Statutory Offer pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure Section 998 was served in advance of the filing of the Motion for Summary Judgment, therefore allowing for the client’s recovery for an award of costs. This result was obtained before there was an operative complaint or a single deposition was taken in the matter.

June 15, 2018