Lawsuit against Rockford hospital heads to trial 9 years later on little-used, challenging-to-prove claim

Posted On:   10 November 2018

Illinois, US – 10th November, 2018: Nine years after a Poplar Grove woman sued OSF HealthCare and a neurosurgeon — alleging the doctor operated on the wrong side of her body, leaving her disabled — the case is headed to trial later this month.

However, the case going before a jury doesn’t involve a claim of medical malpractice, although the woman’s attorneys first must prove an error occurred during a 2007 surgery. Instead, it is proceeding on two counts remaining in the lawsuit: the little-used and challenging-to-prove claim of negligent credentialing. That allegation essentially means a hospital system was negligent in hiring a doctor and granting the credentials to practice there, typically because the physician was unqualified, incompetent or otherwise unable to perform a certain procedure.

Mary Friday and her husband, Dennis Friday, filed suit in October 2009 in Winnebago County Circuit Court.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that happening,” the Fridays’ attorney, Gregory Barrett, said of a lawsuit going to trial solely on counts of negligent credentialing.

As evidence of OSF’s negligence, they cite 17 counts of unprofessional conduct levelled against neurosurgeon Denise Crute in 2005 by the Colorado State Board of Medical Examiners. Those counts stem from conduct with 17 patients from 1997 through 2004 and accuse Crute of performing wrong-side surgeries and falsifying medical records, among other allegations.

Source: http://www.journalstandard.com/news/20181110/lawsuit-against-rockford-hospital-heads-to-trial-9-years-later-on-little-used-challenging-to-prove-claim