Aldana v. Stillwell (Aug. 3, 2016, B259538) __ Cal.App.4th __ [2016 WL 4131373]
Paramedic supervisor Mike Stillwell drove his employer’s vehicle (not an ambulance) to an accident site to supervise emergency medical technicians and provide assistance if needed. He collided with a vehicle driven by Gerardo Aldana. Aldana sued Stillwell for negligence 17 months later. The trial court granted Stillwell’s motion for summary judgment based on the 1-year MICRA statute of limitations (Code Civ. Proc., § 340.5), as interpreted by Canister v. Emergency Ambulance Service (2008) 160 Cal.App.4th 388 (Canister) [holding that EMTs “are health care providers and negligence in operating an ambulance qualifies as professional negligence when the EMT is rendering services that are identified with human health and for which he or she is licensed”].
The Court of Appeal reversed, observing that, in Flores v. Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital (2016) 63 Cal.4th 75, 88 (Flores), the Supreme Court recently clarified that “the special statute of limitations for professional negligence actions against health care providers applies only to actions alleging injury suffered as a result of negligence in rendering the professional services that hospitals and others provide by virtue of being health care professionals: that is, the provision of medical care to patients.” The Aldana court questioned the continued viability of Canister following Flores. The court explained that whether Stillwell was acting within the scope of his employment was immaterial to the question whether MICRA applied. Instead, MICRA “applies only to actions alleging injury suffered as a result of negligence in . . . the provision of medical care to patients,” and is therefore limited to claims arising from professional services “for which the provider is licensed.” Accordingly, the trial court erred by applying the MICRA limitations period, rather than the two-year limitations period applicable to general negligence claims (Code Civ. Proc., § 335.1), because “[d]riving [a non-ambulance] to an accident victim is not the same as providing medical care to the victim” and is “outside the scope of the duties for which a paramedic is licensed.”
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