Patient’s Estate Gets New Chance at Anesthesia Machine Lawsuit

A plaintiff’s failure to follow Indiana’s special rules for medical malpractice claims wasn’t fatal to a lawsuit arguing that an anesthesia machine’s failure during surgery caused a patient’s death, a state appeals court said.

Accusations that Franciscan Health Indianapolis’s engineering team failed to inspect and maintain the machine are claims of ordinary negligence, not medical malpractice, the Indiana Court of Appeals said Tuesday. Roberta Miller, as special administrator of Robert Lewis’ estate, therefore could immediately file a lawsuit in court instead of first submitting her claims to a professional review panel as required by the state’s medical malpractice law, Chief ...