Lash v. Sparta Community Hospital Dist.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-hospital’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff’s claim, alleging that defendant’s medical agents were negligent in diagnosing plaintiff’s decedent with “anxiety reaction,” under circumstances where decedent died next day of heart attack. While plaintiff argued that defendant’s agent, who performed tests on decedent that revealed that decedent had hypertension, elevated white blood cell count and hilar enlargement, was negligent for failing to include acute cardiopulmonary disease in his diagnosis, Ct. of Appeals found that sections 6-105 and 6-106(d) of Illinois Tort Immunity Act, which provide immunity to local public entities such as defendant-hospital for injuries caused by failure to make physical or mental examination for purposes of determining whether person has disease or physical or mental condition, applied to defendant. This is so, Ct. of Appeals concluded, since plaintiff’s claim concerned improper diagnosis of decedent’s condition. Dist. Ct. also properly dismissed plaintiff’s informed-consent complaint where decedent never received any treatment for his condition.