Malek v. Jayakar
Malek v. Jayakar
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). I must respectfully dissent. Since the election to submit to arbitration
I would affirm the trial court’s grant of accelerated judgment.
Opinion of the Court
The parents of Thomas L. Malek, a minor, executed an arbitration agreement on his behalf at the time of his admission to defendant hospital. Defendant Doctor Jayakar had an agree
Thomas L. Malek allegedly suffered from diabetes mellitus, which was not diagnosed by defendants. Thomas’s condition deteriorated until he lapsed into a diabetic coma, resulting in severe permanent neurological and physical damage. On January 20, 1978, plaintiffs filed a complaint alleging medical malpractice against defendants. Defendants moved for dismissal of the case, contending that the execution of the arbitration agreement precluded filing suit in circuit court. Plaintiffs resisted the dismissal arguing that the medical malpractice arbitration act, MCL 600.5040 et seq.; MSA 27A.5040 et seq., was constitutionally defective. On March 23, 1979, the trial court granted defendant hospital’s motion for accelerated judgment, and on May 23, 1979, the trial court granted defendant Doctor Jayakar’s motion for accelerated judgment.
There is currently a split of authority in this Court concerning whether the medical malpractice arbitration act is constitutionally defective on due process grounds. The act requires that one of the three arbitrators shall be a physician or, in a limited number of cases, a hospital administrator. MCL 600.5044; MSA 27A.5044. The act also mandates the composition of the arbitration agreement form and states that if the agreement includes various provisions it will be "presumed valid”. MCL 600.5041; MSA 27A.5041. Conspicuous in its absence is any statutory requirement that the arbitration agreement detail how the arbitration panel is to be composed. We find that this fact renders a patient’s execution of an arbitration agreement nonbinding. The various legal systems of this nation universally hold that a jury trial is
Reversed and remanded for trial. No costs, since at the time this action was brought no appellate court decisions concerning the substantial constitutional issue raised had been released.
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