Alabama Court Rules University Hospital Shares State Immunity

The Alabama Supreme Court has thrown out a $3.2 million judgment against a Montgomery hospital, ruling for the first time that a hospital affiliated with a state university shares the state’s immunity from lawsuits.

In their 5-3 decision released on Jan. 14, justices said that the Alabama Constitution provides immunity from lawsuits to the state and its agencies.

The high court determined such immunity applied to Baptist Medical Center East because its parent company, Baptist Health, turned over operations to the University of Alabama and its University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System in 2005.

The board of the University of Alabama created a health care authority to operate the hospital. Justice Mike Bolin wrote in the majority decision that “a health care authority created by a state educational institution is entitled to state immunity.”

Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb wrote in the dissenting opinion that the decision immunizes a hospital “in providing negligent care to our citizens.”

In 2009, a Montgomery jury awarded $3.2 million to Lauree Durden Ellison’s family, which sued the hospital after she died on Nov. 8, 2005.

The family’s lawyers said the hospital was responsible for the 73-year-old Wetumpka woman’s death by not reporting to her doctor that emergency room workers found she was infected with an antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria.

The hospital argued that the standard of care did not require that anyone be notified of the presence of the bacteria, known as methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or “MRSA.”

The hospital said she died of congestive heart failure instead of pneumonia caused by the bacteria.

Ellison’s daughter-in-law, Pamela Ellison, said Thursday the family was shocked by the hospital’s victory.

“They should answer for what they did. They are getting away Scott-free,” she said.

The family plans to ask the court to reconsider the decision. Two of the justices on the court changed Monday, which she said gives the family hope that a new panel might see the case differently.

One of the attorneys for Health Care Authority for Baptist Health, retired Alabama Supreme Court Justice Bernard Harwood, said Thursday the university involvement was the key.

“Alabama has always give institutions of higher learning the same absolute immunity the state has,” he said.

Former Lt. Gov. Jere Beasley, a prominent plaintiff lawyer who does not do medical malpractice cases, said the decision will cause future medical lawsuits to be focused on doctors instead of hospitals.

“If someone is killed or disabled for life, they are going to look for someone to sue. If they can’t sue the hospital, they are going to sue the doctor who admitted them to the hospital,” Beasley said.

Yet in that scenario, Harwood said a plaintiff would have to show the doctor was directly liable for an injury that may have occurred.