Professional Negligence Law Reporter

An Arkansas appellate court held that an estate’s claims alleging failure to provide sufficient care to a nursing home resident prone to falling were time-barred, in part.

Charlie Jean Brakebill, who suffered from dementia and was bedridden, was admitted to Robinson Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in early December 2016. A week later, she developed a pressure sore on her heel, which failed to heal. She also fell four times over a two-week period and was diagnosed as having a fractured left hip shortly after. She received nursing home hospice care and died in March 2017. On Feb. 7, 2019, her estate sued Robinson Nursing and Rehabilitation, LLC, alleging, in part, that the defendant committed medical malpractice by failing to provide Brakebill with adequate nursing, custodial, and medical treatment. The defendant moved for partial summary judgment on the basis that the applicable two-year limitations statute for medical malpractice commenced in December 2016 and barred the plaintiff’s complaint. The trial court held that the continuous treatment doctrine was inapplicable and granted partial summary judgment as to any alleged malpractice occurring before Feb. 7, 2017.

Affirming, the appellate court noted that a medical malpractice claim accrues on the date of the wrongful act and at no other time. The continuous treatment doctrine requires a series of negligent acts or a continuing course of improper treatment, the court said, adding that the doctrine is inapplicable to cases involving single or isolated acts of negligence. The court agreed with the trial court that the continuous treatment doctrine did not apply to the plaintiff’s claims, which accuse the defendant of failing to prevent Brakebill from falling, resulting in her hip fracture in December 2016. This portion of the malpractice claim is therefore time-barred, the court said, reiterating that the date of the alleged malpractice is binding and rejecting the concept of a continuous tort.

Consequently, the trial court’s ruling was proper.

Citation: Whitman v. Robinson Nursing & Rehab. Ctr., LLC, 2024 WL 4964744 (Ark. Ct. App. Dec. 4, 2024).