PAMED and AMA Urge Supreme Court to Clarify Medical Liability Standard in Smith v. Kannarkatt

Last week PAMED and the AMA filed an amici curiae brief asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reverse a Superior Court decision that, if left in place, would impose a lowered standard to establish liability in certain medical malpractice cases. Smith v. Kannarkatt, et al., is a medical malpractice case in which the estate of Tanya Smith sued Smith’s treating oncologist, and the treatment facility based on increased risk of harm after another physician had misdiagnosed Tanya Smith’s cancer as breast cancer, when it was, in fact, a rare form of lymphoma. Tanya Smith subsequently died from cancer.

Tanya Smith’s estate received a financial recovery from the physician who made the misdiagnosis. The estate then brought this action against the treating physician, Dr. Annie Kannarkatt, and Cancer Care Associates of York, the facility where Dr. Kannarkatt provided treatment. Two trials were conducted in county court in this case. The first ended with a hung jury. The judge dismissed the second prior to the case going to the jury, ruling that the plaintiff had failed to make out a case.

On appeal, the Superior Court ruled that the county court had erroneously applied the applicable legal standard in dismissing the case and ordered a new trial. The Superior Court found that plaintiff’s expert witness had presented sufficient evidence to establish a case that defendant Dr. Kannarkatt’s failure to question the other involved physicians in light of conflicting clinical and radiological findings increased the risk of harm to Tanya Smith sufficiently to require the case be decided by the jury. Dr. Kannarkatt and Cancer Care Associates of York appealed to the Supreme Court.

In the brief, PAMED and AMA argue that the Superior Court ruling will create confusion as to the standard for increased risk of harm cases. The brief also argues that the standard was misapplied in this case and that there was insufficient evidence presented at trial to send the case to the jury.

Oral argument will be held later this year. The Supreme Court’s decision can be expected in very late 2025 or the first half of 2026. Read the Superior Court opinion and the amici brief.