Supreme Court: Malpractice ruling has doctors concerned

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MAY 27, 2019 04:10 PM, UPDATED 46 MINUTES AGO
MINNEAPOLIS

A recent ruling from the Minnesota Supreme Court saying doctors can be sued for malpractice even if they're not directly treating a patient is causing angst in the state's medical and legal communities.

The high court said in its ruling last month that the decision was aimed at doctors whose decisions have consequences. The decision came in a case involving a hospital doctor who allegedly refused to admit a patient who was being treated by a nurse practitioner at the Essentia Health Clinic in Hibbing in August 2014.

The nurse spoke with Dr. Richard Dinter at Fairview Range Medical Center and asked him to admit 54-year-old Susan Warren because she was suffering from abdominal pain, fever, chills and other symptoms, according to the lawsuit from the patient's family. The lawsuit alleges Dinter declined admission after a 10-minute phone call.

But court records in the case show that the doctor and nurse disagree about several aspects of their conversation, including whether the nurse made the request for Warrant to be admitted. Warren died several days later.

More:
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/article230876524.html