HOSPITAL NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TIRED RESIDENT

The Illinois Appellate Court(First District) was recently faced with a novel issue: whether a hospital may owe a duty to a third party injured by an allegedly sleep-deprived employee. In Brewster v. Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center, (no cite available yet), Heather Brewster, a scholarship athlete at Eastern Illinois University was seriously injured when the car she was driving was rear-ended on a suburban highway by first year medical student in 1997. The medical student, Sook Im Hong had worked 34 of the 36 hours immediately prior to the collision. Hong admitted the crash occurred because she had fallen asleep at the wheel. Evidence was presented that Rush required residents to work excessive hours and knew that the schedules would cause sleep-deprivation amongst residents. Rush argued that the hours it imposed were permissible under Illinois law and consistent with standards in place at the time. The Appellate Court, in upholding a 2003 trial court ruling, held that at present, there is no such duty imposed under Illinois law.

The plaintiff, Heather Brewster, was left physically and cognitively impaired and she was forced to quit her studies. She was ultimately declared incompetent and now lives with her parents. Her attorney indicated an appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court was in likely. Chicago Sun Times, Wednesday, September 21, 2005.