Lection v. Dyll

Sandra Lection (plaintiff) was taken to the emergency room with several neurological symptoms, including slurred speech, dizziness, and a severe headache. The emergency physician on duty performed an examination, ordered a few tests, and paged the neurologist on call, Dr. Louis Dyll (defendant). Dyll was required to serve as an on-call physician for the emergency room as part of his contract with the hospital and to provide treatment and medical decisions upon request of the on-call emergency physician. The emergency physician gave Lection’s test results to Dyll via telephone, and Dyll stated that Lection did not need to be admitted to the hospital because she required no further treatment and likely was suffering from a hemiplegic migraine. Dyll told the physician to have Lection come to his office the following week. Accounts from the emergency physician, attending nurses, hospital medical records, and Lection herself conflicted as to whether Lection left the hospital during the phone call with Dyll or after the physician relayed Dyll’s comments to Lection. According to Lection and her husband, the emergency physician told her to go home because she had suffered a hemiplegic migraine. The next morning, Lection suffered a disabling stroke. Lection filed a medical-malpractice suit against Dyll. Dyll moved for summary judgment, claiming that no physician-patient relationship existed because Lection left the hospital and Dyll’s phone call did not create a duty of care. The trial court rendered a take-nothing summary judgment against Lection, and Lection appealed.