The Massachusetts Court of Appeals has ruled that a radiology services provider could be held liable for not providing a patient access to an on-call interventional radiologist, leading to the patient's death.
According to court documents released Oct. 24, the decision determined that Worcester, Mass.-based St. Vincent Radiological Associates had a contractual agreement with St. Vincent Hospital to provide an on-call interventional radiologist.
The lawsuit, brought by Dolores Brown, alleges her husband, Duane Brown, arrived at the emergency department in need of a cholecystostomy to drain an infection in his gallbladder. However, SVRA said the on-call interventional radiologist was "unavailable at that time and would not be available for another three days."
Mr. Brown then became severely ill and was transferred to UMass Memorial Medical Center, also in Worcester, but died before the procedure could be performed. Allegations against individual defendants have been resolved, and a lower court initially ruled that SVRA was not liable for not providing the cholecystostomy. However, Associate Justice Gregory Massing and Judges Sookyoung Shin and Andrew D'Angelo disagreed, writing that "the negligence in this case may be attributable to SVRA as an entity, rather than to any individual physician, [but] does not relieve SVRA of liability."
The judges further stated that a hospital with an emergency department "owes a duty of reasonable care to patients admitted on an emergency basis," which includes having certain radiology services available. Because SVRA was contracted to provide those services on behalf of St.Vincent Hospital, it can be held liable for failing to provide them.
"The contract requires SVRA to assume duties to [Mr.] Brown recognized at common law," the judges wrote. "[No] more, but no less."