Michigan Supreme Court Ruling on Causation, Lost Opportunity, and Medical Malpractice

Over the weekend, the Michigan Supreme Court released its ruling in O’Neal v. St. John Hosp. & Med. Center.  In an opinion by Justice Hathaway, the Court held that Michigan’s statutory loss of opportunity provision (Section 2912a(2)) does not apply to medical malpractice cases.  The majority opinion further rejected use of a differential subtraction analysis of the plaintiff’s statistical risk to determine proximate causation.

That said, the case produced a plethora of opinions.  Only Justice Weaver joined Justice Hathaway’s opinion, though she also issued a separate concurring opinion.  Justice Cavanaugh concurred in the result and issued a separate opinion, which Chief Justice Kelly joined.  Justice Markman also issued a separate concurring opinion, which Justice Corrigan joined in part.  Justice Corrigan also joined Justice Young’s dissenting opinion.

Thanks to Jeffrey Pojanowski (Notre Dame) for the alert.

– SBS