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FOR IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE NEWS RELEASE # 34

FROM : CLERK OF SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA

The Opinions handed down on the 22nd day of May, 2007 , are as follows:

PER CURIAM :

2005-C -2275

IN RE: MEDICAL REVIEW PANEL PROCEEDINGS IN THE MATTER OF STEPHANIE NOE (Parish of Orleans) Accordingly, the judgment of the court of appeal is affirmed in part and reversed in part. AFFIRMED IN PART AND REVERSED IN PART. CALOGERO, C.J., dissents in part and concurs in part and reasons. KIMBALL, J., concurs in part and dissents in part and assigns JOHNSON, J., dissents in part and concurs in part for reasons by Calogero, C.J. VICTORY, J., concurs in part and dissents in part and assigns TRAYLOR, J., concurs in part and dissents in part for reasons by Victory, J. KNOLL, J., dissents in part and concurs in part for the assigned by Chief Justice Calogero. assigns reasons. assigned reasons. assigned reasons

05/22/07 SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA No. 2005-C-2275

IN RE: MEDICAL REVIEW PANEL PROCEEDINGS IN THE MATTER OF STEPHANIE NOE

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL FOURTH CIRCUIT, PARISH OF ORLEANS

PER CURIAM We granted certiorari to determine whether the court of appeal erred when it reversed the district court and held the one-year prescriptive period was suspended under the continuous treatment doctrine. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On June 11, 2001, Stephanie Noe sought treatment from her physician, Dr. Hill, for sinus congestion. As he had on several occasions in the past, Dr. Hill ordered a Celestone injection, which was administered in Ms. Noe's right buttock by Nurse Hahn, an employee of IMG Healthcare Network. On March 12, 2003, twentyone months after the injection had been given, Ms. Noe filed a medical malpractice complaint against IMG Healthcare Network and Dr. Hill and later amended the complaint to add Nurse Hahn. The complaint alleged Nurse Hahn administered the injection in an inappropriate location and/or manner causing Ms. Noe continuing back, buttock and leg pain and related problems and further alleged Dr. Hill and IMG Healthcare Network were vicariously liable under the theory of respondeat superior. While the complaint was still before the medical review panel, defendants filed an exception of prescription as authorized by La. R.S. 40:1299.47(B)(2)(a). The district court granted the exception of prescription on March 9, 2004.

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On appeal, the court of appeal affirmed and further held the doctrine of contra non valentem did not apply. Moreover, the court of appeal rejected Ms. Noe's argument that she should have been allowed to amend her complaint to assert a claim against Dr. Hill arising out of his independent negligence. This court granted Ms. Noe's application for writ of certiorari, vacated the ruling of the court of appeal and remanded the case to the court of appeal to reconsider the prescription issue in light of this court's recent decision in Carter v. Haygood, 04-0646 (La. 1/19/05), 892 So.2d 1261, involving the third category of contra non valentem.1 On remand, the court of appeal, applying the continuous treatment doctrine, reversed the district court and found the claim had not prescribed. Based on the conclusion that Ms. Noe's claim had not prescribed, the court of appeal pretermitted discussion of whether Ms. Noe should be granted the opportunity to amend her complaint to assert a claim against Dr. Hill arising out of his independent negligence. This court then granted defendants' application for writ of certiorari to determine whether the claim had prescribed. DECREE After reviewing the evidence and considering the law, we hereby find that the claim against Nurse Hahn is prescribed. The vicarious liability claim against Dr. Hill arising under the doctrine of respondeat superior is also prescribed. However, we

This court's order addressed its recent ruling in Carter and the application of an incorrect date concerning Ms. Noe's visit to Dr. Frank Wharton, stating:
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Granted; the court of appeal's ruling is vacated and the case is remanded to the court of appeal to reconsider the prescription issue (1) in light of this Court's recent decision in Carter v. Haygood, 892 So.2d 1261 (La.1/19/05) involving the application of the third category of contra non valentem, and (2) applying the correct date of March 27, 2002 as the date Ms. Noe visited Dr. Frank Wharton.
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find the introduction of Ms. Noe's affidavit and deposition at the hearing on the exception of prescription expanded the pleadings to include a claim against Dr. Hill arising out of his own independent negligence. Moreover, we find the claim against Dr. Hill arising out of his own independent negligence remains viable and is not prescribed. Accordingly, the judgment of the court of appeal is affirmed in part and reversed in part.

AFFIRMED IN PART AND REVERSED IN PART.

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05/22/07 SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA No. 2005-C-2275 IN RE: MEDICAL REVIEW PANEL PROCEEDINGS IN THE MATTER OF STEPHANIE NOE ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL FOURTH CIRCUIT, PARISH OF ORLEANS CALOGERO, Chief Justice, concurs in part and dissents in part and assigns reasons: I concur in the portion of the majority opinion finding that the medical malpractice claim filed by plaintiff, Stephanie Noe, against defendant, Dr. Michael Hill, arising out of his independent negligence remains viable and is not prescribed. However, I dissent from the portion of the majority opinion finding that Ms. Noe's medical malpractice claim against defendant, Nurse Deborah Hahn, as well as her vicarious liability claim against Dr. Hill arising under the doctrine of respondeat superior, is prescribed. For the reasons detailed below, I would affirm the court of appeal's denial of the defendants' exception of prescription. In Carter v. Haygood, 04-0646 (La. 1/19/05), 892 So. 2d 1261, this court found that prescription in a medical malpractice case is suspended pursuant to the third category of contra non valentum so long as the defendant health care provider continuously treats the plaintiff in an effort to improve the plaintiff's condition allegedly caused by negligent treatment. In this case, Ms. Hill timely filed her medical malpractice claim within one year of the date Dr. Hill's continuous treatment ended, making her claim against Dr. Hill for his independent negligence timely under Carter, as the majority correctly finds. However, the majority errs when it finds that the suspension of prescription arising from Dr. Hill's continuous treatment of Ms. Noe does not extend to Ms. Noe's
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claim against Dr. Hill's alleged solidary obligor, Nurse Hahn. The clear purpose of La. Rev. Stat. 40:1299.47(A)(2)(a) is to suspend prescription against all joint and solidary obligors when prescription has been suspended against one of them. Proper application of the continuous treatment doctrine, coupled with the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 40:1299.47(A)(2), results in a finding that Ms. Noe's medical malpractice claim against Nurse Hahn, as well as her claim against Dr. Hill arising out of his vicarious liability, was timely filed under the facts of this case.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY In 1998, Ms. Noe, who was insured by IMG Healthcare Network, chose Dr. Hill as her primary care physician. Dr. Hill treated Ms. Noe during her pregnancy for twins, and provided other medical treatment, including treatment for Ms. Noe's ongoing sinus problems, between 1998 and 2001. This medical malpractice claim arises out of Ms. Noe's visit to Dr. Hill on June 11, 2001, when she sought treatment for sinus congestion. As he had on several occasions in the past, Dr. Hill ordered a Celestone injection, which was administered by Nurse Hahn in Ms. Noe's right buttock. Ms. Noe testified in her deposition that the injection was very painful, that she felt a "jolt" all the way down her leg, and that the injection did not feel like other Celestone injections she had received in the past, both because of the intensity of the pain and because she did not feel the burning sensation that she typically associated with steroid injections. Ms. Noe further testified that the pain continued longer than the two or three days she would have expected, and that her husband, who was a nurse, told her when he removed the band-aid several days later that the injection had not been administered in the upper right quadrant of the buttock, the proper location

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for administering injections. About a week after the injection, Ms. Noe said, she noticed a "reddish-purple circle, knot type" in the location where Nurse Hahn had given her the injection. Ms. Noe returned to Dr. Hill on August 6, 2001, complaining of problems in the area where the injection was given. By that time, Ms. Noe said, there was obvious deterioration and atrophy of her right buttock muscle. Dr. Hill noted on that date that Ms. Noe had a two-centimeter discoloration on her right buttock. Ms. Noe stated in her affidavit that her husband accompanied her on the August 6, 2001, visit to Dr. Hill, and that they specifically asked Dr. Hill whether she had suffered nerve damage as a result of the injection. Dr. Hill denied any nerve damage, telling them that the problems were related to an allergic reaction to the Celestone, Ms. Noe stated. At that point, Dr. Hill placed her on a one-year exercise program to strengthen her buttock muscles, she said. Ms. Noe testified by deposition that her buttock muscle continued to atrophy after her August 6, 2001, visit to Dr. Hill, but that the deterioration "stabilized" within three months of the injection, although the pain continued to get more severe. Ms. Noe testified that she saw Dr. Hill at least four more times with complaints related to the injection site, and that she discussed the problems with him on the telephone on several other occasions. The IMG Healthcare records indicate that Ms. Noe saw Dr. Hill on December 17, 2001, when she complained about hair loss and fatigue, and again on January 25, 2002, when once again her chief complaint was hair loss. Although the records contain no notations indicating Ms. Noe complained about the injection site at either the December 17, 2001, visit or the January 25, 2002, visit, Ms. Noe stated in her affidavit that Dr. Hill did check the injection site during the December 17, 2001, visit.

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On March 27, 2002, Ms. Noe consulted one of Dr. Hill's associates, Dr. Frank Wharton, complaining of on-going leg pain since the injection. Dr. Wharton's notes indicate that Ms. Noe told him she thought that the injection had injured her sciatic nerve. According to Ms. Noe's affidavit, Dr. Wharton told her that her symptoms might warrant an MRI, and advised her to see Dr. Hill as soon as he was available. Ms. Noe returned to Dr. Hill on April 3, 2002, complaining of constant leg and back pain, at which time Dr. Hill referred her to a neurologist for EMG and MRI studies. According to Ms. Noe, the test results, which she received sometime in April of 2002, revealed that the injection had damaged her sciatic nerve. Ms. Noe filed her Medical Malpractice Complaint against IMG Healthcare and Dr. Hill on March 12, 2003, approximately 21 months after the injection had been given on June 11, 2001, but less than a year after the last time she consulted Dr. Hill in April 3, 2002. In her complaint, Ms. Noe asserted that Dr. Hill ordered the injection and that an unidentified member of his staff administered the injection "in an inappropriate location and/or manner causing severe pain." Ms. Noe's complaint alleged that she sought treatment from Dr. Hill following the injection, for back and leg pain and eventual atrophy of her buttock, until Dr. Hill recommended that she seek treatment with a neurologist. Ms. Noe claimed that she was told for the first time in April of 2002 that "the injection was the cause of her continuing back, buttock and leg pain and related problems," and that she suffered and continues to suffer severe pain, disfigurement, mental anguish and emotional distress. According to Ms. Noe's complaint, Dr. Hill is responsible for the negligence of the person who administered the injection "[u]nder the theory of respondeat superior and based on

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the fact that Dr. Hill was the supervisor of the unidentified employee who administered the injection."1 On May 21, 2003, defendants filed a "Petition to Allot a Docket Number" in the district court. Ms. Noe amended her complaint on October 23, 2003, to specifically name Nurse Hahn as the female member of the staff of IMG Healthcare who administered the injection. She filed her first amended and supplemental claim on November 6, 2003, to adopt by reference the allegations in her original complaint against Nurse Hahn. Defendants filed an Exception of Prescription on January 8, 2004, as allowed by La. Rev. Stat. 23:1299.47(B)(2)(a).2 At the hearing on the exception, the parties stipulated that the district court should consider documentary evidence in lieu of live testimony and submitted Ms. Noe's affidavit, Ms. Noe's deposition, and the IMG Healthcare chart (i.e., Ms. Noe's medical records). The district court granted the exception of prescription on March 9, 2004, without assigning written reasons. The court of appeal affirmed the district court decision dismissing Ms. Noe's complaint as prescribed, in an unpublished decision. In re Medical Review Panel Proceedings in Matter of Noe, 04-0760 (La. App. 4 Cir. 12/8/04), 888 So. 2d 1170. This court granted Ms. Noe's application for supervisory writs, vacated the court of appeal decision, and remanded the case to the court of appeal for consideration in light of Carter, 04-0646, 892 So. 2d 1261.
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In re Medical Review Panel Proceedings in

Ms. Noe's only allegation against Dr. Hill in her medical malpractice complaint was based on his vicarious liability for Nurse Hahn's actions. However, as the majority finds, Ms. Noe's pleadings were expanded by the introduction of her affidavit and deposition at the hearing on the defendants' exception of prescription to allege independent negligence against Dr. Hill. See La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 1154.
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La. Rev. Stat. 40:1299.47(B)(2)(a) provides as follows:

A health care provider, against whom a claim has been filed under the provisions of this Part, may raise any exception or defenses available pursuant to R.S. 9:5628 in a court of competent jurisdiction and proper venue at any time without need for completion of the review process by the medical review panel. 5

Matter of Noe, 05-0070 (La.4/8/05), 898 So. 2d 1289. On remand, the court of appeal reversed the district court judgment, which had granted the defendants' exception of prescription. In re Medical Review Panel Proceedings in the Matter of Stephanie Noe, 04-0760 (La. App. 4 Cir. 8/3/05), 916 So.2d 1138. The court of appeal found that "Dr. Hill's consistent relationship coupled with his reassurances of recovery and the implementation of [a] one year treatment program, thwarted Ms. Noe's inclination to bring suit and prevented the claim from prescribing." Id. at 7-8, 916 So. 2d at 1143. This court granted defendants' application for supervisory writs. In re Medical Review Panel Proceedings in the Matter of Stephanie Noe, 05-2275 (La. 4/17/06), 926 So.2d 497.

SUSPENSION OF PRESCRIPTION IN MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ACTIONS Pursuant to La. Code Civ. Proc. art. 927(B), prescription must be specifically pled by a defendant and cannot be supplied by the court. The burden of proving prescription ordinarily lies with the party raising the exception, but when prescription is evident on the face of the pleadings, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to show that the action has not prescribed. Carter, 04-0646 at 9, 892 So. 2d at 1267. Evidence may be presented at the hearing on the exception. Id. In this case, prescription is evident on the face of the pleadings. The injection that allegedly caused Ms. Noe's injuries and damages occurred on June 11, 2001, more than a year prior to March 12, 2003, the date on which she filed her medical malpractice complaint. Thus, Ms. Noe had the burden of proving at the hearing on the defendants' exception of prescription that the claim had not prescribed.

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However, as a general rule, courts are required to strictly construe prescriptive statutes against prescription and in favor of the obligation sought to be extinguished, and therefore, of two possible constructions, to adopt the one that favors maintaining, as opposed to barring, the action. Id. at 10, 892 So. 2d at 1269. Further, this court stated as follows in Guitreau v. Kucharchuk, 99-2570 (La. 5/16/00), 763 So. 2d 575: The one-year prescriptive period for a medical malpractice action will not begin to run at the earliest possible indication that a patient may have suffered some wrong. Prescription should not be used to force a person who believes he may have been damaged in some way to rush to file suit against every person who might have caused his damage. Id. at 6, 763 So. 2d at 579-80, citing Jordan v. Employee Transfer Corp., 509 So. 2d 420, 423 (La. 1987). Prescription in medical malpractice actions is governed by La. Rev. Stat. 9:5628(A), which provides as follows: No action for damages for injury or death against any physician, chiropractor, nurse, licensed midwife practitioner, dentist, psychologist, optometrist, hospital or nursing home duly licensed under the laws of this state, or community blood center or tissue bank as defined in R.S. 40:1299.41(A), whether based upon tort, or breach of contract, or otherwise, arising out of patient care shall be brought unless filed within one year from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect, or within one year from the date of discovery of the alleged act, omission, or neglect; however, even as to claims filed within one year from the date of such discovery, in all events such claims shall be filed at the latest within a period of three years from the date of the alleged act, omission, or neglect. This court has previously recognized that La. Rev. Stat. 9:5628 is a "tripartite prescription provision" that sets forth two prescriptive periods within which a patient may bring a medical malpractice action: (1) one year from the date of the alleged act, or (2) one year from the date of discovery with a three-year limitation from the date of the alleged act. See Carter, 04-0646 at 10, 892 So. 2d at 1268, and cases cited therein.

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The reality is that, despite the above statute, which establishes a one-year prescriptive period for filing a medical malpractice action, medical malpractice lawsuits are virtually never actually filed in courts of competent jurisdiction within one year of the alleged act of malpractice. Rather, a medical malpractice plaintiff must first provoke a medical review panel, as his ability to file suit is constrained by the provisions of La. Rev. Stat. 40:1299.47(A)(1). That statute provides as follows: All malpractice claims against health care providers covered by this Part, other than claims validly agreed for submission to a lawfully binding arbitration procedure, shall be reviewed by a medical review panel established as hereinafter provided for in this Section. As this court stated in LeBreton v. Rabito, in addition to provoking a review panel, a medical malpractice plaintiff "must . . . receive an opinion from it before he can file suit in a court of law." 97-2221, p. 6 (La. 7/8/98), 714 So. 2d 1226, 1229, quoting Everett v. Goldman 359 So. 2d 1256, 1263 (La. 1978). Because this requirement makes it difficult, if not impossible, for medical malpractice plaintiffs to actually file suit within a year of an alleged act of malpractice, a number of suspension principles have been invoked to extend the one-year prescriptive period set forth in La. Rev. Stat. 9:5628. Generally, "prescription is suspended when the law, as a favor to somebody, prevents it from running." 1 Marcel Planiol & George Ripert, Traite Elementaire de Droit Civil, No. 2697 (12th ed. 1939), reprinted in 1 Marcel Planiol & George Ripert, Treatise on the Civil Law, part 2, 593 (La. St. Law Inst. Trans. 1959). The reasons for the suspension principle were set forth as follows by Planiol and Ripert: Suspension of prescription is a measure of equity, invented through regard for certain persons who are not in a position to interrupt prescription when it is running against them. The law comes to their help by holding, in derogation to general principles, that all the time they remain in such state does not count. The result is that everybody has the normal prescriptive delay within which to interrupt prescription by asserting his rights.
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Id. at No. 2698, Treatise on the Civil Law, part 2 at 594. Two situations that operate to suspend prescription in medical malpractice cases are expressly established by La. Rev. Stat. 40:1299.47(A)(2)(a), which provides, in pertinent part, as follows: The filing of the request for a review of a claim shall suspend the time within which suit must be instituted, in accordance with this Part, until ninety days following notification, by certified mail, as provided in Subsection J of this Section, to the claimant or his attorney of the issuance of the opinion by the medical review panel, in the case of those health care providers covered by this Part, or in the case of a health care provider against whom a claim has been filed under the provisions of this Part, but who has not qualified under this Part, until ninety days following notification by certified mail to the claimant or his attorney by the board that the health care provider is not covered by this Part. The filing of a request for review of a claim shall suspend the running of prescription against all joint and solidary obligors, and all joint tortfeasors, including but not limited to health care providers, both qualified and not qualified, to the same extent that prescription is suspended against the party or parties that are the subject of the request for review. The first sentence of the above provision expressly suspends the one-year prescriptive period for filing a medical malpractice action in a court of competent jurisdiction until 90 days following notification of the issuance of the medical review panel's opinion. The second sentence expressly suspends prescription against all joint and solidary obligors/tortfeasors "to the same extent" prescription has been suspended against one or more other joint or solidary obligors/tortfeasors when a timely request for review has been filed against that obligor/tortfeasor. In addition to the two statutory provisions that suspend prescription in medical malpractice actions, set forth in La. Rev. Stat. 40:1299.47(A)(2)(a), Louisiana courts have developed a number of jurisprudential exceptions to offset the sometimes harsh results of prescriptive statutes. Carter, 04-0646 at 11, 892 So. 2d at 1269. These exceptions are called contra non valentem non currit praescriptio, which literally

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means "prescription does not run against a person who could not bring his suit." Id. The four categories of contra non valentum recognized by this court are as follows: (1) where there was some legal cause which prevented the courts or their officers from taking cognizance of or acting on the plaintiff's action; (2) where there was some condition coupled with the contract or connected with the proceedings which prevented the creditor from suing or acting; (3) where the debtor himself has done some act effectually to prevent the creditor from availing himself of his cause of action; and (4) where the cause of action is not known or reasonably knowable by the plaintiff, even though this ignorance is not induced by the defendant. Id. at 11-12, 892 So. 2d at 1268. These jurisprudential exceptions to prescription are designed to allow courts "to weigh the `equitable nature of the circumstances in each individual case' to determine whether prescription will be tolled." Id. at 12, 892 So. 2d at 1269. The continuous treatment doctrine adopted by this court in Carter is based on the third category of contra non valentum listed above, which applies when "the debtor himself has done some act effectually to prevent the creditor from availing himself of his cause of action. Id. at 12, 892 So. 2d at 1269. In fact, this court noted before Carter in In re Medical Review Panel for the Claim of Moses, 00-2643 (La. 5/25/01), 788 So. 2d 1173, that a suspension of prescription premised on the continuation of a special relationship is always based on the third category of contra non valentum. Id.3 The doctrine also applies to "situations where an innocent

plaintiff has been lulled into a course of inaction in the enforcement of his right by reason of some concealment or fraudulent conduct on the part of the defendant, or

I note that this statement is consistent with La. Civ. Code art. 3469, which provides for suspension of prescription "as between: the spouses during marriage, parents and children during minority, tutors and minors during tutorship, and curators and interdicts during interdiction, and caretakers and minors during minority." All of the listed situations involve relationships of trust that should not be undermined by a need to "race to the courthouse" to file suit when the problems can perhaps be resolved by continuation of the relationship. In each of the listed situations, and in the continuous treatment situation, a resort to suit becomes necessary only if the relationship breaks down to the point that it terminates. 10

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because of his failure to perform some legal duty whereby plaintiff has been kept in ignorance of his rights." Id. at 12, 892 So. 2d at 1269. Proper consideration of the prescription issues raised by this case requires consideration of both of the statutory prescription principles set forth in La. Rev. Stat. 47:1299.47(A)(2)(a), as well as the jurisprudential suspension principle embodied in the continuous treatment doctrine. I will apply those principles to the two distinct issues raised by this case. First, I will analyze whether Ms. Noe's Medical

Malpractice Complaint against Dr. Hill and IMG Healthcare qualified as a timely "filing of [a] request for review of a claim" such that, pursuant to the first sentence of La. Rev. Stat. 40:1299.47(A)(2)(a), the one-year prescription period for filing a medical malpractice action in a court of competent jurisdiction was suspended until ninety days following notification of the issuance of the medical review panel's opinion. In order to reach that decision, I will consider whether prescription was suspended pursuant to the continuous treatment doctrine. Second, I will analyze whether the prescriptive period during which Ms. Noe could amend her Medical Malpractice Complaint to name Nurse Hahn as a defendant jointly liable with Dr. Hill and IMG Healthcare was suspended pursuant to the second sentence of La. Rev. Stat. 40:1299.47(A)(2)(a), such that her amended complaint was timely filed.

CONTINUOUS TREATMENT DOCTRINE Prior to Carter, this court had declined to address directly the continuous treatment doctrine in medical malpractice cases or to recognize the possibility that a doctor's continuing professional relationship with a patient might, under some circumstances, operate to suspend prescription in a medical malpractice claim. Id. at 12-13, 892 So. 2d at 1269. This court noted in Carter that one reason prescription

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is suspended under the continuous treatment doctrine is the fact that, so long as the plaintiff remains in the care of the defendant physician, "she could reasonably expect [or hope for] a correction of the diagnosis or tortious treatment." Id. at 13, 892 So. 2d at 1269. The court went on in Carter to find, based on the circumstances of that case, that prescription was suspended by virtue of the continuous treatment doctrine because the plaintiff had reasonably relied on the "repeated assurances and . . . continuous efforts" of the defendant dentist to correct the extensive dental problems caused by the alleged malpractice, which "served to effectively prevent the plaintiffs from pursuing their claims against him." Id. at 19, 892 So. 2d at 1273. Prescription was suspended, the court found, until the doctor-patient relationship terminated upon the defendant's refusal to continue treating the plaintiff. Id. Thus, the plaintiff's suit, filed within one year of that date, was timely. Id. at 19, 892 So. 2d at 1273. The Carter case analogized the continuous treatment doctrine to the continuous representation doctrine that was once applied by Louisiana courts in legal malpractice cases "where the professional's involvement after the alleged malpractice is for the performance of the same or related services and is not merely continuity of a general professional relationship." Id. at 16, 892 So. 2d at 1271, quoting Lima v. Schmidt, 595 So. 2d 624, 630 (La. 1992).4 This court adopted the continuous representation doctrine in legal malpractice cases in Braud v. New England Ins. Co., 576 So. 2d 466,
In Reeder v. North, 97-0239 (La. 10/21/97), 892 So. 2d 1261, this court held that the continuous representation doctrine no longer operates in legal malpractice bases to suspend prescription because the one- and three-year periods of limitation in legal malpractice cases established by La. Rev. Stat. 9:5605 are peremptive in nature and thus "may not be renounced interrupted, or suspended," and because contra non valentum does not apply to peremption. Nevertheless, this court in Carter, 04-0646, 892 So. 2d 1261, analogized the continuous treatment doctrine in medical malpractice cases to the continuous representation rule in legal malpractice cases, and applied principles originally developed in continuous representation legal malpractice cases. The Reeder decision was not mentioned in Carter, even by the dissenters. Thus, I would continue the practice began in Carter of applying the principles developed in continuous representation legal malpractice cases by analogy to this continuous treatment medical malpractice case. 12
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468 (La. 1991), in which it cited with approval a number of Louisiana court of appeal cases that had applied the doctrine, including Newsom v. Boothe, 524 So. 2d 923 (La. Ap. 2 Cir.), writ denied, 531 So. 2d 479 (La. 1988); Malone v. Wright, 525 So. 2d 13 (La. App. 3 Cir. 1987); and Olivier v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., 499 So. 2d 1330 (La. App. 3 Cir. 1988). In Braud, this court characterized the continuous

representation doctrine as follows: "[D]uring the attorney's continuous representation of the client regarding the specific subject matter in which the alleged wrongful act or omission occurred, prescription will be suspended." 576 So. 2d at 468. See Carter, 04-0646 at 15, quoting Lima, 595 So. 2d at 630, quoting Braud. The continuous representation doctrine in legal malpractice cases was grounded on the premise that an attorney's decision to continue to represent a client induces the client to continue to depend on the attorney's expertise to resolve the pending legal issue. In Carter, this court noted the analogous principle that in a medical malpractice case, "[i]t is the continuation of the special relationship that offers the possibility of correction of the injury and thus may postpone the running of prescription." 04-0646 at 13, 892 So. 2d at 1269. Like the continuing

representation doctrine in legal malpractice cases, the continuing treatment doctrine in medical malpractice cases applies "where the professional's involvement after the alleged malpractice is for the performance of the same or related services and is not merely continuity of a general professional relationship." Id. at 16, 892 So. 2d at 1271, quoting Lima, 595 So. 2d at 630. I agree with the court of appeal that Ms. Noe has carried her burden in this case of proving that prescription was suspended by virtue of the continuous treatment doctrine adopted by this court in Carter. This court adopted two elements in Carter

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that must be established by a plaintiff in a medical malpractice action seeking to avail herself of the benefits of the continuous treatment doctrine to suspend prescription: (1) a continuing treatment relationship that is more than perfunctory, during which (2) the physician engaged in conduct which served to prevent the patient from availing herself of her cause of action, such as attempting to rectify an alleged act of malpractice. 04-0646 at 16, 892 So. 2d at 1271. Ms. Noe established the first of those two elements through her testimony that she had selected Dr. Hill as her personal care physician in 1998 and that he had continued in that capacity between 1998 and 2002. Further, the IMG Healthcare records establish that Ms. Noe sought treatment from Dr. Hill on at least four occasions during the nine-month period following the injection. Obviously, their physician-patient relationship was more than perfunctory. Defendants' primary argument is that Ms. Noe failed to establish the second of the two elements

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