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Health Law Keyed to Furrow
Burless v. West Virginia University Hospitals, Inc.
Facts
In July 1998, Jaclyn Burless (Plaintiff) learned she was pregnant. In November 1998, Plaintiff went to West Virginia University Hospital (WVUH) for an ultrasound. Burless (Plaintiff) signed a consent form at that time that stated the faculty physicians and resident physicians in the hospital providing treatment are not employees of the hospital. When Burless (Plaintiff) delivered at WVUH in late February 1999, there were complications and her daughter, Alexis Price, had seizures and suffered a stroke. Burless (Plaintiff) claimed that the doctors and the hospital were negligent by failing to monitor her labor and delivery, and that the negligence caused her daughter severe and permanent mental, neurological, and psychological injuries. Her lawsuit said WVUH was vicariously liable based upon a theory of apparent agency between WVUH and the doctors who provided the alleged negligent care. Melony Pritt's (Plaintiff) case [consolidated by the court for review purposes] arose from a visit to the emergency department at WVUH in June 1998. At that time, Pritt (Plaintiff) was diagnosed as nine weeks pregnant, and she had a cyst on her left ovary. When Plaintiff returned later in her pregnancy to have the cyst removed, she signed an informed consent for a laparotomy and left ovarian cystectomy. The surgery was complicated when the cyst ruptured because it had not been properly contained or treated with antibiotics. Plaintiff was discharged on that date, but then returned two days later with a massive infection in her abdomen which resulted in the premature labor and delivery of her son. Plaintiff claimed her son suffered severe and permanent mental, neurological, and psychological injuries. Plaintiff then sued WVUH, claiming that injuries to herself and her son were a result of negligence by the doctors when they elected and performed an elective laparoscopic cystectomy procedure.
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