Streifel v. Bulkley

Excerpt

The plaintiff registered nurse sought to recover damages from the defendant for negligence in connection with injuries she sustained while providing medical care to the defendant, who was a patient in the radiation oncol- ogy department at the hospital where she worked. In her complaint, the plaintiff alleged that as she was assisting the defendant during the diagnostic procedure or medical treatment he was undergoing, he grabbed hold of her while he attempted to transition from a supine to a seated position on the examining table, and, as a result, she suffered several physical injuries. She claimed that her injuries were proximately caused by the defendant's negligence. The defendant filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that the plaintiff's action was not viable because allowing a medical care provider to recover damages from her patient was contrary to public policy. The trial court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment, concluding that the plaintiff failed to demonstrate that there was a genuine issue of material fact that the defendant, as a patient at the hospital, owed a duty of care to the plaintiff, who was providing him medical care as a registered nurse. On the plaintiff's appeal to this court, held: 1. The plaintiff could not prevail on her claim that the trial court improperly rendered summary judgment because the defendant's motion for sum- mary judgment effectively challenged the legal sufficiency of her cause of action, and, therefore, that court should have treated the motion as a motion to strike to provide her with the opportunity to replead; because the plaintiff failed to object to the trial court's deciding the case through summary judgment or, in the alternative, to offer to amend her complaint if the court determined that the allegations were legally insufficient, she waived any claim that the trial court improperly failed to treat the motion for summary judgement as a motion to strike. 2. The plaintiff could not preva