High court rules in favor of claim against KMC

The Idaho Supreme Court has overturned a district court ruling that dismissed a quadriplegic’s claim of medical negligence at Kootenai Medical Center because he didn’t file the complaint in time.

The action is expected to set a precedent that says alleged negligence, wrongful acts or omissions must be identified before the clock starts ticking on time limits for patient litigation.

The opinion by Supreme Court Justice Daniel T. Eismann upholds an appeal of a Kootenai County District Court ruling. It basically redefines interpretation of the Idaho statute that says written notice of a claim must be filed “within 180 days from the date the claim arose or reasonably should have been discovered, whichever was later,” according to the Spokane lawyer who represented Arthur B. Steele.

“At least according to this judge, it changes the perception so that those last words in the statute really do mean something,” said attorney Timothy B. Fennessy.

The ruling centered on the case of Steele, a former owner of the Captain’s Table resort in Garfield Bay near Sagle, who was badly injured in a January 2000 car crash.

Steele, who was 54 at the time of a 2003 deposition, said that he was intoxicated when he drove his 1993 Dodge truck home on an icy highway. Records indicated the truck hit a patch of black ice and slid, ejecting Steele, who suffered cuts, bruises and a fractured right arm. He also suffered a possible spinal fracture, according to a CT scan on the day of his admission to KMC.

However, a week after the crash, nurses transferred Steele from his hospital bed to a chair. Within minutes, according to court records, “he felt greater pain, lost function in his arms and legs and had numbness in parts of his extremities.” An MRI showed a displaced spinal fracture. Surgery didn’t help; Steele became a quadriplegic.

Steele was hospitalized in Spokane and Seattle for about nine months. In November 2000, he sent a letter to the Kootenai Hospital District, the public agency that runs Kootenai Medical Center, notifying officials he intended to file a claim for alleged negligence.

Lawyers for the hospital district claimed the notification came too late to satisfy the Idaho statute. Steele’s lawyers argued that he couldn’t have known his condition was caused by negligence until after medical exams and records reviews in the summer of 2000. Kootenai County District Court Judge Charles W. Hosack ruled that “whether Steele could have learned earlier of the nurses’ alleged negligence was irrelevant,” documents showed.

But the state Supreme Court ruled that the district court erred in that decision. Instead, the top court declined to dismiss Steele’s appeal.

Steele died at age 56 in July 2005, still waiting for resolution of the appeal.

The Supreme Court also denied KMC’s motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that Steele’s death made it moot.

Instead, Steele’s survivors – who include no spouse or children, only siblings – may file a claim for wrongful death, the court ruled.

Steele’s lawyer said he was still considering that action.

A lawyer for KMC said Friday he couldn’t discuss an ongoing case. Patrick E. Miller said lawyers were preparing to defend any future action.

Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at (208) 765-7124 or by e-mail at jonela@spokesman.com