DeGrazia v. Johnson, 105 Mich. App. 356

Summary

The Michigan Court of Appeals held that the statute of limitations for a medical malpractice claim did not begin to run until the defendant physician's June 1976 telephone conversation with the plaintiff, because the conversation constituted continued treatment or service related to the allegedly negligent knee surgery. The court affirmed the denial of accelerated judgment based on the statute of limitations.

Holdings

1. A physician's telephone conversation with the patient about the knee previously operated on constituted treating or otherwise serving the plaintiff within the meaning of MCL 600.5838 when the conversation occurred as part of the continuing physician-patient relationship and was not merely a device to extend the limitations period.
2. Accelerated judgment was properly denied because the claim did not begin accruing until after the June 1976 telephone conversation, making the limitations defense unavailable on the record presented.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a telephone conversation between a physician and patient concerning the previously treated condition constituted treating or otherwise serving the plaintiff under MCL 600.5838, thereby delaying accrual of the medical-malpractice claim until after that conversation.
2. Whether the trial court erred in denying accelerated judgment based on the statute of limitations.

Disposition

affirmed