There is a limit on Idaho Code 6-1012, Idaho's Medical Malpractice Statute – not every person involved in the health care industry is a “provider of health care.” In Glaccum v. Mizer et al, Blaine County Case No. CV2012-853, District Court Judge Robert J. Elgee, granted the Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment challenging Defendant Mizer’s Affirmative Defense that Idaho Code 6-1012, Idaho Medical Malpractice statute, applied to a Licensed Pharmacist refilling a prescription. The facts of the case are that in refilling Plaintiff’s prescription, Defendant Mizer, a Licensed Pharmacist working at a Licensed Pharmacy, provided the Plaintiff with the wrong drug. Plaintiffs brought claims for negligence, professional negligence, and violation of the Idaho Consumer Protection Act. As an Affirmative Defense, Defendant Mizer asserted that there should only be one cause of action – a claim for medical negligence that must be brought pursuant to Idaho Code 6-1012.
Judge Elgee dismissed Defendant Mizer’s Affirmative Defense finding that a Licensed Pharmacist is not a “provider of health care” under Idaho Code 6-1012. In ruling from the bench, Judge Elgee relied on the language of Idaho Code 6-1012 and decisions from other states in coming up with what he stated was the determinative factors in whether a person is a “provider of health care.” Judge Elgee noted that while Idaho Code 6-1012 lists a number of professions as being providers of health care, it does not expressly include Pharmacists. Judge Elgee also found that the catch-all phrase in Idaho Code 6-1012, “other provider of health care,” is limited to professions who have patient-medical provider relationships where a professional treats or heals a patient. Judge Elgee cited to a prior decision of his, Park v. St. Lukes, Blaine County Case No. 09-387 and Stalcup v. Orthotic & Prosthetic Lab, Inc., 989 S.W.2d 654, 660 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999) as being persuasive to him in defining who was a provider of health care and what “health care” was. Judge Elgee found that a Licensed Pharmacist refilling a prescription provided no independent treatment or healing of a patient, and was, therefore, not a provider of health care as intended by Idaho Code 6-1012.