Peer Review

Longa v. Vicory, No. 83A01-0406-CV-233 (Ind. Ct. App. June 7, 2005)

The families of six patients who were murdered by an ICU nurse over a two-year period brought suit against the hospital board, the administrator, and two physicians on the medical staff. The claim against the physicians was based on the Indiana hospital licensing statute which they argued created a private cause of action against the physicians for failing to provide proper peer review. The physicians were part of the medical staff but did not care for the patients and were not part of the hospital's peer review committee.

The issue before the Court of Appeals was whether the Indiana statute imposed a general duty on all members of the medical staff to assure proper peer review. The court looked at the language of the statute and determined that it did not create a duty from a physician to a patient. Rather, the statute made the medical staff responsible to the board for peer review. The court also found that the statute made members of peer review committees immune from liability. Therefore, it would lead to an absurd result if members of peer review committees were immune but other doctors could be sued. Thus, the Court of Appeals held that the statute did not provide the families with a private cause of action and dismissed the case.