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Blutcher v. EHS Trinity Hospital

Case Date: 03/29/2001
Court: 1st District Appellate
Docket No: 1-00-2151 Rel

FOURTH DIVISION

March 29, 2001

No. 1-00-2151

DAVID BLUTCHER,)Appeal from the
)Circuit Court of
Plaintiff-Appellee,)Cook County.
)
v.)
)
EHS TRINITY HOSPITAL,)
)
Defendant-Appellant and)
Third-Party Defendant-Appellee,)
)
(Roseland Community Hospital, Myung Lee, M.D.,)
Earl Fredricks, M.D., Hugh Russell, M.D., and)
Subodh Mohindra, M.D.,)
)
Defendants;)
)The Honorable
Roseland Community Hospital,)Philip L. Bronstein,
)Judge Presiding.
Third-Party Plaintiff-Appellee).)

JUSTICE SOUTH delivered the opinion of the court:

This appeal arises from an order of the circuit court granting plaintiff's petition undersection 2-1401 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2-1401 (West 1998)) and vacatingdismissals pursuant to a prior settlement agreement. The issues raised on appeal are (1) whetherthe trial court abused its discretion in granting plaintiff's section 2-1401 petition by vacating thedismissals entered into by the parties' attorneys pursuant to a settlement agreement; and (2)whether the relief granted against Trinity was an abuse of the court's discretion when plaintiff'sproper remedy was against his agent, the attorney.

In July 1995, plaintiff David Blutcher went to the emergency room at RoselandCommunity Hospital (Roseland) due to chest pains. After being treated at Roseland, Blutcherwas transferred to EHS Trinity Hospital (Trinity). When Blutcher was admitted at Trinity, hisinitial EKG revealed that he was having a myocardial infarction. He remained in the emergencyroom for approximately 23 hours before being transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU). Hedid not receive a thrombloytic infusion for approximately 1