Tennessee Supreme Court hears dispute over who must be named in medical-malpractice pre-suit notices

The Tennessee Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in a medical-malpractice appeal about whether a grandmother who obtained custody and signed a HIPAA authorization satisfied the state's pre-suit notice statute in a wrongful-death claim brought on behalf of two minor children.

The dispute centers on the phrase "name and address of the claimant authorizing the notice" in the state's health-care liability notice statute (cited at argument as Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-121) and whether the grandmother, who filed the pre-suit notice and custody order after the children's mother died, qualified as the "claimant" or as an authorized agent for the children.

The case began as a wrongful-death claim after a 32-year-old woman sought hospital care for chest pain, was sent home, later required an ambulance and died. Attorneys for the plaintiffs told justices the only adult available to sign on the children's behalf was the grandmother, who had custody and signed medical-release paperwork; defense lawyers said the notice failed to…