Professional Negligence Law Reporter

An Ohio appellate court held that a plaintiff’s negligent credentialing claim against a hospital was precluded where he failed to obtain a determination that a physician in the underlying case had committed malpractice.

Raeann Walling suffered fatal pulmonary vein stenosis after undergoing a catheterization procedure performed by physician Ransford Brenya. Walling’s estate sued Brenya, The Toledo Hospital, and another physician, alleging medical malpractice and negligent credentialing. During trial, Brenya testified that he did not remember reviewing an X-ray taken of Walling showing a potential pulmonary venous obstruction and agreed that not reviewing the records sent to him about a patient fell below the standard of care. The parties settled the malpractice claims during trial. The signed release contained an acknowledgment by the defendants that they denied any wrongdoing and also stated that the settlement did not impair any of the plaintiff’s pending claims. Following dismissal of the plaintiff’s malpractice claims, the hospital moved for summary judgment on the plaintiff’s negligent credentialing claim. The trial court granted the motion.

Affirming, the appellate court found that under relevant case law, to prove negligent credentialing, a plaintiff must obtain a prior determination that a staff doctor had committed malpractice and that this proximately caused the plaintiff’s injuries. The plaintiff, the court said, settled its malpractice claims without a stipulation that the physicians’ medical malpractice had caused Walling’s injury. The court rejected the plaintiff’s argument that Brenya’s testimony constituted a determination or stipulation that Walling’s injury resulted from malpractice. This testimony was simply evidence that would have been considered by the jury but for the parties’ settlement, the court said.

Moreover, the court reiterated, it is not the release of the underlying defendants that precluded the negligent credentialing claim here, but the estate’s failure to obtain a prior determination establishing that Brenya’s negligence had proximately caused the Walling’s injuries.

Consequently, summary judgment for the defense was proper.

Citation: Walling v. Brenya, 2021 WL 72375 (Ohio Ct. App. Jan. 8, 2021).