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An injured high school student needed to submit her complaint to a medical review panel before she presented it to a trial court, the Court of Appeals of Indiana ruled Wednesday in reversing and dismissing a case that alleged negligence.
In August 2019, Alyssa Kennedy was a high school student on the volleyball team at Portage High School.
According to court records, during a game Kennedy was knocked to the ground and her head struck the floor. She was referred to the athletic trainer, Annie Gonzalez, who was working as an IncreMedical employee.
Gonzalez told Kennedy’s mother that there wasn’t a need to go to the hospital for a concussion that wouldn’t be visible on a scan.
The next day Gonzalez cleared Kennedy for practice without doing an impact test, as required by Portage High School’s safety policies and procedures.
A couple days of later at a game, Kennedy was struck in the head by a ball and was clearly dazed and confused.
Gonzalez told Kennedy’s mother again that there wasn’t a need to go to the hospital for a concussion.
On Aug. 4, 2021, Kennedy filed her complaint against Portage High School and Portage Township Schools claiming to have sustained a brain injury due to the school’s and its employee’s negligence.
The school responded by naming Gonzalez and IncreMedical as non-parties.
In January 2022, Kennedy amended her complaint to include Gonzalez and IncreMedical. They responded by filing a motion to dismiss, claiming that the Porter Superior Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the claims.
The motion was dismissed.
The appellants provided an affidavit from the Indiana Department of Insurance verifying that IncreMedical was a qualified health care provider pursuant to Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act.
They also provided an affidavit by Ann Miller, the human resources manager at IncreMedical, stating that Gonzalez was an employee of IncreMedical acting within the course and scope of her employment.
On June 7, 2022, the trial court heard arguments on the appellants’ motion to dismiss and denied the motion.
Incremedical and Gonzalez appealed.
One issue was brought to the appellate court.
That was whether the trial court erred by denying their motion to dismiss because the appellants are qualified health care providers pursuant to the Medical Malpractice Act and Kennedy failed to present her proposed complaint to the medical review panel prior to commencing the cause.
The appellate court found that when conflicting information is provided to the claimant concerning the qualified status of a physician under the MMA, there is an obligation on the part of the claimant to determine from the IDOI whether the doctor is qualified.
“Accordingly, as IncreMedical and AT Gonzalez are qualified health care providers under the MMA, Kennedy must present her proposed complaint to a medical review panel prior to commencing an action in the trial court,” Judge Patricia Riley wrote. “Because the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction, we reverse the trial court’s denial of Appellants’ motion to dismiss.”
Judges Cale Bradford and Leanna Weissmann concurred.
The case is Incremedical LLC and Annie Gonzalez v. Alyssa Kennedy, 22A-CT-2929.
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