Rathje v. Mercy Hospital

On March 19, 1999, Dr. Dwight Schroeder (defendant) and Mercy Hospital (defendant) treated teenager Georgia Rathje (plaintiff) for alcohol abuse. The treatment included a prescription for Antabuse, a medicine that was supposed to cause an unpleasant reaction to alcohol. Rathje did not drink any alcohol but began to feel nauseous a week later. On April 23, Rathje visited her family doctor, Dr. Jerome Janda, who prescribed stomach medicine. Rathje’s situation got worse, leaving her bedridden, unable to eat, and vomiting a green substance. On April 26, Rathje returned to Janda, who noticed that she seemed jaundiced. Suspecting a gallstone issue, Janda admitted Rathje to a hospital the next day. On that day, April 27, a specialist diagnosed Rathje with possible hepatitis from the Antabuse medicine. Rathje’s condition kept getting worse. Ultimately, the Antabuse caused end-stage liver disease, and Rathje had a liver transplant. On April 26, 2001, Rathje sued Schroeder and Mercy Hospital for medical malpractice, arguing that the Antabuse had caused the liver damage. However, there was a two-year time period for bringing medical-malpractice claims. The trial court found that there was physical evidence of Rathje’s liver injury before April 26, 1999, and that April 26, 2001, was therefore too late for Rathje to file a malpractice claim. The court dismissed the claim. Rathje appealed.