Recent Developments in Health Law: Civil Procedure: First Circuit Holds it Unreasonable to Hale Hospitals into Foreign Forums Simply for Accepting Out-of-State Patients — Harlow v. Children's Hospital

• Published in: The Journal of law, medicine & ethics Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 467 - 469
• Main Author: Hague, Ashley Clare
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2006; Cambridge University Press
• Subjects: Civil law; Civil procedure; Federal court decisions; Hospitals; Legal procedure; Litigation; Patients; Situs; State court decisions; United States > US; Maine
• ISSN: 1073-1105; 1748-720X
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-720X.2006.00054.x

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently upheld a United States District Court for the District of Maine Judge's decision to dismiss a Maine plaintiff's medical malpractice claim against a Massachusetts hospital defendant for want of personal jurisdiction over the hospital. The Court of Appeals found it unreasonable to hale hospitals into an out-of-state court merely because they accept out-of-state patients. Plaintiff Danielle Harlow is a Maine resident who suffered a stroke at the age of six while undergoing a medical procedure at Children's Hospital of Boston, Massachusetts (“Children's Hospital”). The stroke, allegedly caused by the Hospital's negligence, led to brain damage resulting in partial paralysis and cognitive and behavioral impairments. The procedure was supposed to treat Harlow's rapid heartbeat, a condition related to her Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. Harlow's pediatrician in Maine recommended that she visit Children's Hospital in Boston to treat her arrhythmia.