Medical malpractice; Elher v. Misra; Qualification of an expert to testify as to the standard of care (SOC) under MCL 600.2169; Turbin v. Graesser; Qualification of hospital-administration experts; MRE 702; MCL 600.2955; MCL 600.2912a; “The practice of medicine”; Cox v. Flint Bd. of Hosp. Managers; Nursing malpractice; Craig v. Oakwood Hosp.; Waiver; Braverman v. Granger; Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

The court reversed summary disposition for defendant-hospital as to plaintiff’s nursing-malpractice claims; affirmed the supplemental opinion and order concluding that her anesthesiology expert (Dr. D) was not qualified to testify in support of plaintiff’s hospital-administration claims; and affirmed the trial court to the extent it dismissed her hospital-administration claims on the basis of its determination that her expert witness-H’s testimony was not reliable. But it reversed to the extent the trial court dismissed plaintiff’s entire case, including her nursing-malpractice claims, and remanded. The case arose from the death of plaintiff’s 30-year-old decedent in the ICU of defendant “after his tracheostomy tube became dislodged and several members of” the staff were unable to secure an airway. The court first held that H, plaintiff’s hospital-administration expert, “was not qualified to testify as an expert witness in this case, because in his deposition taken during discovery, [he] failed to establish his qualifications regarding the applicable local” SOC for hospital administrators. In his deposition, H testified about a national SOC, not the local SOC “for a level II trauma center in Saginaw, Michigan, such as defendant. Specifically, [H] based his [SOC] testimony on the national standards set by the Joint Commission. [H] had never worked in a hospital in Michigan and he also conceded that he did not contact any local hospital administrators in the Saginaw area, or any other health system in Michigan, when preparing his opinion” here. He also “conceded that he never had primary responsibility for drafting a policy or procedure for ICU management.” Further, he “had never worked in a level II trauma center or in a teaching hospital staffed with residents, as is defendant. As such, [H] failed to establish that he was knowledgeable of the local [SOC] for a level II trauma center in Saginaw, Michigan.” As a result, he was not qualified to offer SOC testimony here. However, the court agreed with plaintiff that the trial court erred in determining that she failed to offer evidence of causation and in dismissing her nursing-malpractice claim on this basis.