Reed v. Anm Health Care
Reed v. Anm Health Care
Opinion of the Court
¶1 Sharon Reed was barred from her life partner’s intensive care unit hospital room for extended periods of time on the night before her partner’s death. Karen Hulley, the critical care nurse who limited Reed’s visitation, asserts that her actions were medically motivated, but Reed challenges this assertion. Reed brought an action against Hulley for the common law torts of outrage and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Hulley argues that Reed’s alleged injuries occurred as a result of health care, so her remedies are limited by RCW 7.70.010, and that she has no viable claim under chapter 7.70 RCW. But we conclude that Reed presented a genuine factual dispute regarding whether her injuries resulted from health care. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court’s denial of summary judgment.
FACTS
¶2 Sharon Reed and Jo Ann Ritchie were life partners for 17 years before Ritchie’s death. Ritchie was ill for several years before she died and had been hospitalized several times. Ritchie executed a durable power of attorney giving Reed authority to make medical care decisions on Ritchie’s behalf.
¶3 Reed brought her partner to the University of Washington Medical Center on August 30, 2005, because Ritchie was having trouble breathing. From August 30 to September 3, Reed and Ritchie’s family had unrestricted access to Ritchie. Around 4 p.m. on September 3, Ritchie was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). According to Reed,
¶4 Karen Hulley, the critical care nurse assigned to Ritchie, began her shift at 7 p.m. on September 3. Shortly after 11 p.m., Hulley told Reed she would have to leave Ritchie’s room. According to Hulley, she asked Reed to call her from the waiting area before coming back to Ritchie’s room. Hulley claims that Reed repeatedly re-entered the room without calling first and that Reed interfered with Ritchie’s rest by talking to her and touching her. Hulley contends that Reed was agitating Ritchie and compromising her respiratory status and that her oxygen status was very unstable. Hulley says she applied an oxygen mask to Ritchie and gave her frozen plasma with the goal of stabilizing her for a possible life-prolonging surgery. Hulley alleges that she gave Reed updates on Ritchie’s status over the phone and in person and there were times when she had to physically work around Reed to tend to Ritchie.
¶5 Reed disputes Hulley’s version of events. She contends that Hulley never updated her or told her to call before entering Ritchie’s room. Reed contends that Hulley never expressed concern that she was agitating Ritchie. According to Reed, she consistently encouraged her partner to not try to speak and Ritchie was comforted by her presence, not agitated. Reed also claims that she saw Hulley “roughly shoving a bed pan” under Ritchie and when she offered to help, Hulley yelled at her to get out. CP at 269. Reed asserts that when she told Hulley about her
¶6 Reed filed suit against Hulley, Hulley’s nurse placement agency (ANM Health Care) and the University of Washington Medical Center.
ANALYSIS
¶7 Hulley contends that the trial court erred in denying her summary judgment motion. She argues that Reed’s injuries arose from the provision of health care, so her remedies are limited to those provided in chapter 7.70 RCW. Reed argues that Hulley’s actions were not motivated by her health care judgment. Consequently, Reed contends that her injuries did not occur as a result of health care and RCW 7.70.010 does not preclude her common law tort claims.
¶8 An appellate court reviewing a trial court’s denial of summary judgment makes the same inquiry as the trial court. Hertog v. City of Seattle, 138 Wn.2d 265, 275, 979 P.2d 400 (1999). Summary judgment is appropri
¶9 In 1976, the legislature preempted “all civil actions and causes of action, whether based on tort, contract, or otherwise, for damages for injury occurring as a result of health care.” RCW 7.70.010. To recover for an injury occurring as a result of health care, a plaintiff must establish one of the following:
(1) That injury resulted from the failure of a'health care provider to follow the accepted standard of care;
(2) That a health care provider promised the patient or his representative that the injury suffered would not occur;
(3) That injury resulted from health care to which the patient or his representative did not consent.
RCW 7.70.030. Thus, whenever an injury occurs as a result of health care, an action for damages is governed exclusively by chapter 7.70 RCW and, to be actionable, the injury must fall within one of the three categories of RCW 7.70.030. Branom v. State, 94 Wn. App. 964, 969, 974 P.2d 335 (1999).
¶10 But not all actions that occur during the course of a health care provider and patient relationship constitute “health care” within the meaning of the statute. Estate of Sly v. Linville, 75 Wn. App. 431, 438, 878 P.2d 1241 (1994). For example, in Sly, the plaintiff sued Dr. Linville for misrepresenting the nature and extent of his prior physician’s negligence. Sly, 75 Wn. App. at 434. Sly argued that he failed to timely bring a medical malpractice action against his prior physician because of Dr. Linville’s misrepresentations and that the tort of misrepresentation is separate and distinct from a medical malpractice claim. Sly, 75 Wn. App. at 434, 439. The court agreed that the alleged misrepresentations were not health care because
“Although in a general sense a doctor furnishes medical care to patients, clearly not every act of negligence toward a patient constitutes medical malpractice. The gravamen of plaintiff’s complaint in the instant action is not defendants’ malpractice in furnishing medical treatment to him, but rather defendants’ failure in fulfilling his independent duty not to disclose confidential information without plaintiff’s consent. Defendants’ alleged breach of this duty did not arise during the process in which Dr. Ginsberg was utilizing the skills which he had been taught in examining, diagnosing, treating or caring for the plaintiff as his patient.”
Sly, 75 Wn. App. at 439 (quoting Tighe v. Ginsberg, 146 A.D.2d 268, 271, 540 N.Y.S.2d 99 (1989)).
¶11 A doctor’s “entrepreneurial” activities also fall outside the ambit of “health care.” Quimby v. Fine, 45 Wn. App. 175, 180-81, 724 P.2d 403 (1986). This is analogous to the area of legal services, where claims for legal negligence are separate from claims based on “ ‘how the price of legal services is determined, billed, and collected and the way a law firm obtains, retains and dismisses clients.’ ” Quimby, 45 Wn. App. at 180 (quoting Short v. Demopolis, 103 Wn.2d 52, 61, 691 P.2d 163 (1984)). A claim based on legal incompetence is exempt from the Consumer Protection Act, chapter 19.86 RCW, but a claim based on how the legal services provider conducts business is not. Quimby, 45 Wn. App. at 180. Likewise, in the medical arena, if a doctor is motivated to promote an unnecessary surgery for financial gain, an injured plaintiff can pursue a claim under the Consumer Protection Act. Quimby, 45 Wn. App. at 181; see also Wright v. Jeckle, 104 Wn. App. 478, 485, 16 P.3d 1268 (2001) (permitting a Consumer Protection Act claim against a doctor independent of chapter 7.70 RCW because the conduct complained of was not the manner in which the doctor practiced medicine but rather how he engaged in “the business of selling diet drugs”).
¶13 Here, the issue is whether Hulley’s decision to exclude Reed was part of her efforts to treat and care for Ritchie or whether the exclusion was motivated by something other than her medical judgment. If the exclusion was to address Ritchie’s medical needs, then Reed’s injuries occurred as a result of health care and her common law tort claims are precluded by RCW 7.70.010 and .030. If the exclusion was not based on Ritchie’s medical needs, then Reed’s common law tort claims remain viable.
¶14 We agree that Reed presented sufficient evidence to create a genuine factual dispute regarding Hulley’s motivations for excluding Reed. She points out that Dr. Chang
¶15 Hulley offers a medical justification for the exclusion — the need to stabilize Ritchie for a possible life-prolonging procedure.
¶16 We conclude that the disputed evidence creates genuine material issues of fact that preclude summary judgment. Here, Reed points to specific facts in the record from which a reasonable jury could infer that Hulley’s decision to exclude Reed was motivated by reasons other than her medical judgment. Because Reed presented a genuine issue of material fact, the trial court’s denial of summary judgment was proper.
¶17 Affirmed.
Ritchie also made Reed the personal representative of her estate, but Reed brings this action solely on her own behalf.
The University of Washington Medical Center’s motion for summary judgment dismissal was granted, and it is not a party to this appeal.
During oral argument, Reed’s attorney argued that the medical evidence in the record does not establish that such a procedure was scheduled to occur. But our review of the record suggests that a thoracentesis procedure may have been contemplated as part of the plan to care for Ritchie. See CP at 361 (noting that Ritchie “was anxious r/t [(related to)] placing piv [(peripheral intravenous line)], checking INR [(International Normalized Ratio)], rec’g FFP [(fresh frozen plasma)] and thoracentesis”).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.