In a ruling that some say opens the door to more lawsuits against physicians, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recently decided that a doctor can be sued for a patient's emotional distress despite a lack of physical negligence.

The ruling stems from a suit filed by Jeanelle Toney, who underwent a pelvic ultrasound while pregnant and was told by the radiologist, Maheep Goyal, that her unborn baby was healthy and that the exam revealed no abnormalities. When she delivered, however, Toney saw immediately that her child had several deformities, including missing limbs. As a result of being unprepared for this outcome, the woman said she experienced shock, grief, rage, nausea, hysteria, nervousness, sleeplessness and other forms of distress.

Although a trial court had dismissed the claim, the Supreme Court reversed that decision, finding that a physical impact is not necessary for an emotional distress claim when there is a breach of fiduciary duty, American Medical News reported.

The patient's attorney, Stephen Raynes, wrote the following in an email to amednews: "The opinion upholding the judgment recognizes that although not every fiduciary relationship will give rise to a claim for damages, where the specific professional responsibility of an attending physician is to convey accurate information, then failure to do so can give rise to liability if the physician's breach results in unusual and extreme emotional distress on the part of the plaintiff."

Although Raynes said he doesn't expect to see a significant rise in emotional distress lawsuits against doctors, the physician's attorney, Charles Fitzpatrick III, predicted otherwise. "I can guarantee that's what's going to happen," he said. "The impact is: Not only are doctors going to get sued [by patients], but family members who are surprised by a loved one's condition are going to sue. It's expanding who can sue over these things."

To learn more:
- read the report from Legal Newsline
- read the article from American Medical News

Related Articles:
EHRs may up malpractice risk
Docs admit malpractice fears result in too much care
Most physicians will face malpractice but not pay
ACOs should use 'informed refusal' to reduce malpractice risk