In re George, 160 N.H. 699

Summary

The New Hampshire Supreme Court held that a nonpatient's negligence claim against a medical care provider was an "action for medical injury" subject to referral to a medical injury screening panel under RSA chapter 519-B. The court concluded that the statutory definitions do not require the claimant or injured person to be a patient, because resolving the claim required determining whether the provider's professional treatment of the patient deviated from the applicable standard of care. The court affirmed the referral while expressing no opinion on whether the provider owed a duty to the plaintiff or on the ultimate viability of her claims.

Holdings

1. A claim against a medical-care provider is an action for medical injury subject to RSA chapter 519-B screening when recovery requires proof that the provider was negligent in the care, treatment, or supervision of a patient, even if the claimant is not the patient and the injury was suffered by a nonpatient.
2. The equal-protection arguments failed because they were based on the incorrect premise that only patients may assert claims for medical injury under RSA 507-E:1, III.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a nonpatient's claim against a medical-care provider, alleging that negligent treatment of the provider's patient caused injury to the nonpatient, is an action for medical injury subject to referral to a medical injury screening panel under RSA chapters 507-E and 519-B.
2. Whether applying the medical injury screening-panel statutes to claims brought by nonpatients violates the Equal Protection Clauses of the New Hampshire and United States Constitutions.

Disposition

affirmed