An invalid medical arbitration agreement has prompted a federal judge to allow the surviving family of a 41-year-old woman to sue the St. George Medical Center and a physician for medical malpractice.
In a ruling issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball found that the physician-patient arbitration agreement, signed by Darrell Gygi before her abdominoplasty with liposuction on the hips and thighs, did not include several provisions outlined under Utah law and is therefore invalid.
According to the ruling, Gygi traveled from out of state to undergo the medical procedure on Oct. 1, 2004, at the St. George Surgical Center. Gygi was discharged to a St. George hotel where she received home nursing care and pain medications by Community Nursing Services, also a defendant in the suit.
The following day, Gygi stopped breathing and went into respiratory arrest. She was resuscitated in the emergency room at Dixie Regional Medical Center but had "no evidence of viable neurological activity." On Oct. 4, her family members decided to take her off life support.
Surviving family members filed a malpractice suit; however, the physician, Dr. Marcus Peterson, filed a motion to stay the suit and compel arbitration, pointing to the agreement Gygi signed.
In his ruling on Peterson's motion, Kimball noted the agreement failed to mention several provisions of Utah's medical arbitration law, including language informing the patient of the automatic renewal of the agreement each year unless the agreement is canceled in writing. The law also states that the patient must have written notification that they have a right to have all questions about the arbitration agreement answered. That language, among others required by Utah law, was missing, Kimball wrote.
Because the agreement is not valid, Kimball said it was not necessary for him to go into whether the family was bound by Gygi's agreement under state law.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com