Brooks v. HSHS Med. Grp., Inc.

513 F.Supp.3d 1069

Monique BROOKS, as Independent Administrator of the Estate of Roxanne Bradford, Plaintiff,

v.HSHS MEDICAL GROUP, INC., Lindsay R. O'Neil, United States of America, Jane Doe, RN, and St. Elizabeth's Hospital of the Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, Defendants.

Case No. 3:18-CV-563-NJR

United States District Court, S.D. Illinois.

Signed January 19, 2021

Antoinette T. Schlapprizzi, Craig A. Schlapprizzi, Donald L. Schlapprizzi, P.C., St. Louis, MO, for Plaintiff.

Michael J. Nester, Chi-yong Throckmartin, Jason M. Gourley, Donovan Rose Nester, P.C., Belleville, IL, for Defendants HSHS Medical Group, Inc., Lindsay R. O'Neil, St. Elizabeth's Hospital of the Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.

Laura J. Jones, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Fairview Heights, IL, for Defendant USA.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ROSENSTENGEL, Chief Judge:

On February 12, 2015, Roxanne Bradford went to the Emergency Room at St. Elizabeth's Hospital for abdominal pain. Doctors initially suspected a perforated bowel, then thickened stool instead. Four days later, Bradford became unresponsive after suffering a cardiac arrest. Although she was resuscitated, Bradford did not regain consciousness and subsequently required the use of a ventilator. After spending several months at a nursing home facility, Bradford died on January 14, 2016.

On January 10, 2018, Bradford's sister, Monique Brooks, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the Circuit Court of St. Clair County, Illinois (Doc. 1-1). The United States of America subsequently removed the case to federal court under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The case is now proceeding on the Fourth Amended Complaint (Doc. 89), which asserts claims under the Illinois Wrongful Death Act and the Illinois Survival Statute against Defendants St. Elizabeth's Hospital of the Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis ("St. Elizabeth's Hospital"), Lindsay O'Neil, RN, and HSHS Medical Group (collectively, "the St. Elizabeth's Defendants"), as well as the United States and Jane Doe.

The United States has moved for summary judgment on the basis of sovereign immunity (Doc. 154). St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Lindsay O'Neil, and HSHS Medical Group ("St. Elizabeth's Defendants") have moved for partial summary judgment (Doc. 156). For the reasons set forth below, the St. Elizabeth's Defendants’ motion is granted in part and denied in part. The motion filed by the United States is denied.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The following facts are undisputed for the purposes of summary judgment. On February 12, 2015, Roxanne Bradford, who was 58 years old, was admitted to St. Elizabeth's Hospital for abdominal pain (Doc. 154-1 at p. 2). During her initial evaluation, Bradford was given a CT scan, which the radiologist interpreted as suggestive of a perforated bowel (Id. at p. 17). A surgeon, Dr. Donald Crouch, then reviewed the CT scan and concluded that Bradford had severe inspissated, or thickened, stool as opposed to a perforation and planned for her to receive gentle laxatives with close monitoring for progression warranting operative intervention (Id. at p. 9). The inpatient family medicine physicians assigned to Bradford further supplemented this treatment with IV fluids and antibiotics, as well as medications for pain and nausea (Id. at p. 5, 19). These doctors included Dr. Anne Nash, an employee of SIHF Healthcare, and Dr. Vincent Tichenor, a member of the United States Air Force in the second year of a family practice residency program at Saint Louis University (Id. ).

Plaintiff Monique Brooks, Bradford's sister, visited Bradford at the hospital three days later, on February 15, 2015 (Doc. 154-2 at p. 14). At that point, Bradford was able to have a conversation with Brooks, though her breathing was labored (Id. at p. 15). The next day, however, a "code" was called because Bradford became unresponsive while being transferred to a chair by nursing staff (Doc. 169-6 at p. 8). After being resuscitated, Bradford was placed on a ventilator and admitted to the intensive care unit, remaining unresponsive to anything but painful stimuli (Id. at pp. 1, 8). Staff at St. Elizabeth's called Bradford's mother and said there was an emergency but gave no details (Id. at pp. 16-17). Brooks testified that, when she arrived at the hospital, she was not expecting to find her sister unresponsive and connected to a ventilator and multiple tubes (Id. at p. 19). When Brooks and her mother tried to get answers, no one was able to explain what happened (Id. at p. 20). Eventually they were told that Bradford's heart gave out and she went into cardiac arrest (Id. at p. 21). A neurologist further told them that Bradford had diffuse anoxia to her brain and that she was not going to recover (Id. at p. 22).

On February 26, 2015, Bradford was transferred from the ICU at St. Elizabeth's Hospital to Saint Louis University Hospital; she then spent several months at a nursing home facility (Doc. 154-10 at pp. 11-14). On September 24, 2015, the probate court formally adjudicated Bradford disabled and appointed Brooks the "Guardian of the person of the disabled adult person, Roxanne Bradford." (Doc. 169-10). Brooks testified that she observed Bradford grimacing when being turned or cleaned, and would sometimes see a tear coming out of her eye (Doc. 169-12 at p. 2). Bradford could make eye contact, blink, and occasionally give a crooked smile, but she could not squeeze her hand, nod her head, or respond to questions (Id. ).

On December 25, 2015, Bradford was admitted to Memorial Hospital in Belleville, Illinois, where she was noted to be ill-appearing, lethargic, non-communicative, and non-responsive except to verbal, tactile, or painful stimulus (Doc. 169-9). Bradford died on January 14, 2016 (Doc. 169-11).

Brooks, who has a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's degree in public health, testified that she first contacted an attorney in the fall of 2015 because she wanted to know what happened to her sister; one day she was talking and interacting with her sister at St. Elizabeth's, and the next she was on a ventilator (Doc. 154-2 at pp. 4-5; Doc. 169-13 at pp. 2, 4). Brooks explained that "[m]y family wanted to know what happened to my sister, and that was never told to us what exactly happened, why it had happened." (Id. at p. 4). Brooks denied wanting to find out who "was responsible" for her sister's heart giving out (Doc. 154-3 at p. 12).

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On January 10, 2018, Brooks filed her initial complaint in this matter as Independent Administrator of the Estate of Roxanne Bradford in the Circuit Court of St. Clair County, Illinois (Doc. 1-1). The complaint stated, "this is a medical negligence wrongful death action pursuant to 740 ILCS 180/1 and 180/2 to recover damages for the wrongful death suffered by Roxanne Bradford ...." (Doc. 1-1 at ¶ 1). It did not specifically reference the Illinois Survival Act. St. Elizabeth's Hospital, HSHS Medical Group, Inc., Saint Louis University, SIHF Healthcare, Anne Nash, M.D., Vincent Tichenor, M.D., Lindsay R. O'Neil, RN, and Jane Doe, RN, were named as defendants.

The United States removed the case to this district court pursuant to the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2679, on March 12, 2018 (Doc. 1). In its Notice of Removal, the United States certified that Defendant Dr. Tichenor was an employee of the United States Air Force at the time of the events referenced in the complaint (Doc. 1-2). On May 10, 2018, the United States certified that Dr. Nash and SIHF were acting within the scope of their employment as deemed employees of the United States at all relevant times (Doc. 13). As such, they were eligible for Federal Tort Claims Act coverage pursuant to the Federally Supported Health Centers Assistance Act (FSHCAA) (Id. ). Accordingly, the Court permitted the United States to substitute itself as a defendant for Dr. Tichenor, Dr. Nash, and SIHF (Docs. 12, 18).

On March 16, 2018, Brooks filed an SF-95 form with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) believing—based upon the information available to her at the time—that it was the appropriate agency to put on notice regarding the claims against Dr. Tichenor, Dr. Nash, and SIHF Healthcare (Doc. 170-8).

On May 25, 2018, the United States moved for summary judgment pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2675(a) arguing Brooks failed to exhaust administrative remedies prior to filing suit (Doc. 17). With regard to Dr. Nash and SIHF, the United States noted that Brooks did not file an administrative claim with HHS until March 16, 2018, and that the claim had yet to be decided. The United States also asserted that Brooks had yet to file an administrative claim with the Air Force as to Dr. Tichenor. In response to that motion for summary judgment, Brooks informed the Court that her administrative remedies would be exhausted on or before September 16, 2018 (Doc. 19), and at that point, the motion would become moot (Id. ). Rather than dismiss Brooks's claims, the Court stayed its ruling on the motion for summary judgment filed by the United States to provide Brooks with the required time to exhaust her administrative claims with the appropriate federal agencies (Doc. 24). On September 17, 2018, Brooks informed the Court the time for resolution of her administrative claim had expired insofar as HHS has failed to make final disposition of the claim within six months after the claim was presented. Accordingly, her administrative remedies were exhausted.¹

Brooks subsequently moved to amend her complaint several times. It was not until February 13, 2019, that Brooks moved for leave to amend her complaint a third time to include claims under the Illinois Survival Act (Doc. 62). She filed the Third Amended Complaint on May 23, 2019 (Doc. 74). On July 15, 2019, Brooks filed the Fourth Amended Complaint alleging, for the first time, that Dr. Donald Crouch was an actual and/or apparent agent of St. Elizabeth's Hospital and HSHS Medical Group...