J.R. Poll recently filed amicus curiae briefs on behalf of the Michigan Society for Healthcare Risk Management (MSHRM) in the Michigan Court of Appeals in the matters of Jomaa v Prime Healthcare Services-Garden City, LLC (Docket No. 358209) and Vasquez v Nugent, et al (Docket No. 358134). The Michigan Court of Appeals has granted leave to appeal in Jomaa and Vasquez to address whether a decedent's estate is entitled to recover the decedent's future earnings under the wrongful death act (WDA) where no estate beneficiary had an expectation of receiving financial support from the decedent. The decedent in Jomaa was a 13-year-old minor while the decedent in Vasquez was a stillborn infant. In these cases, the Court of Appeals will address the recent Court of Appeals opinion in Denney v Kent County Road Commission, 317 Mich App 727 (2016) which has been cited by plaintiffs as support for the position that the WDA allows recovery of the decedent's future earnings without regard to financial support. The amicus curiae briefs support the defendants' position that prior binding published opinions of the Michigan Supreme Court and the plain language of the WDA limit an estate to the recovery of future earnings only to the extent of the reasonable expectation of financial support of estate beneficiaries.
MSHRM draws its membership from many different areas of healthcare including large/small, urban/rural, and acute/long-term/specialty care. The bylaws of MSHRM broadly accommodate any individual with an interest in healthcare risk management. MSHRM exists to provide a forum for individuals involved with healthcare risk management to exchange information and ideas.
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