Milos v. Hall,
No. 5-00-0285 (Ill. App. Sept. 28, 2001)

The husband of a deceased patient sued, among others, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on his wife, alleging that he intentionally omitted pertinent facts in his autopsy report and misrepresented his conclusions regarding the cause of death to protect from liability the hospital and Emergency Department physician who examined and then discharged his wife. The trial court dismissed the claims, ruling that the plaintiff had failed to file an affidavit as required by the state rules of civil procedure in all "healing art malpractice" actions. The Illinois appeals court reversed, ruling that an autopsy is a medical procedure, but is not, by definition, a "healing art." Thus, the rules for "healing art malpractice" actions did not apply.