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PATRICIA SANTORSO, ADMINISTRATRIX (ESTATE OF LAWRENCE SANTORSO) ET AL. v. BRISTOL HOSPITAL ET AL. (AC 32136)
Lavine, Alvord and Borden, Js. Argued December 1, 2010--officially released April 5, 2011

(Appeal from Superior Court, judicial district of New Britain, Hon. Joseph M. Shortall, judge trial referee.) Michael G. Rigg, with whom was Nancy P. Tyler, for the appellant (defendant Bristol Hospital). Jason T. Prueher, for the appellant (defendant Jeffrey Goldberg). Lorinda S. Coon, for the appellant (defendant Rainer Bagdasarian).

Bruce E. Newman, for the appellee (plaintiff).

Opinion

LAVINE, J. The defendants, Bristol Hospital (hospital) and physicians Jeffrey Goldberg and Rainer Bagdasarian, appeal from the denial of their motions for summary judgment1 in this medical malpractice action. They claim that the trial court, Hon. Joseph M. Shortall, judge trial referee, improperly denied their motions for summary judgment rejecting their claim that the action is barred by the doctrine of res judicata. We agree and therefore reverse the judgment of the trial court. The following procedural history is relevant to our resolution of this appeal. On June 1, 2006, Lawrence Santorso (Santorso), the now deceased spouse of the plaintiff, Patricia Santorso, administratrix of the estate of Lawrence Santorso, commenced an action against the defendants in Santorso v. Bristol Hospital, Superior Court, judicial district of New Britain, Docket No. CV06-5001663-S (first action). The complaint in the first action alleged, in part, that the defendants were negligent in that, for two years, they failed to treat Santorso for a lesion in his lung that had been detected by the hospital's radiology department on three separate occasions. By the time Santorso was diagnosed with lung cancer, the cancer had metastasized, and he was not a candidate for surgical intervention. He died while the first action was pending. When the complaint in the first action was served on the defendants, it contained neither an attorney's good faith certificate nor opinion letters of similar health care providers (opinion letters), both required by General Statutes

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Connecticut Law