Profession
Utah court voids physician-patient arbitration contract
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted July 28, 2008
A Utah appeals court found that a binding arbitration agreement between a physician and a patient was invalid.
Ob-gyn Elizabeth A. Graul, MD, signed the contract with Gloria Soriano after she consulted the doctor in 2004. Soriano had surgery two weeks later. Two years after the procedure, she sued Dr. Graul for alleged negligence. The doctor sought to enforce the arbitration agreement.
In a May ruling, however, the court unanimously held that amendments made in 2004 to the state's arbitration statute rendered such contracts voluntary rather than mandatory. Although Dr. Graul and Soriano had entered into the agreement before the amendments passed, judges said the changes applied retroactively and that Soriano was not precluded from bringing her case to court.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/07/28/prbf0728.htm.
