Tort/Negligence – Hospital Negligence – Administrative Remedies – Exhaustion Requirement – General Medical Negligence Notice – Res Ipsa Loquitur

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Rudisil v. United States (Lawyers Weekly No. 14-02-0877, 7 pp.) (James Fox, Sr. J.) 5:13-cv-00110; E.D.N.C.

Holding: The administrative notice of medical negligence that plaintiff gave the government makes no mention of her hospital negligence claim, which is predicated on the extension of credentialing or privileges to an inexperienced surgeon; therefore, her general notice of medical negligence did not put the government on notice of her specific claim of hospital negligence. Consequently, plaintiff has not exhausted her administrative remedies as to her claim of hospital negligence.

Plaintiff’s hospital negligence claim is dismissed without prejudice. Her res ipsa loquitur claim is dismissed with prejudice.

Plaintiff alleges that a surgeon negligently injured her pancreas and spleen while removing an adrenal mass located near those organs. There is no way a lay jury could determine whether the surgery fell below the relevant standard of care without the assistance of expert testimony. Thus, this is patently not a case where a physician’s conduct is so grossly negligent or the treatment is of such a nature that the common knowledge of laypersons is sufficient to find the essential elements. Plaintiff’s res ipsa claim is therefore dismissed with prejudice.