Judge Cordero of the Superior Court
of the District of Columbia, in Jadine Acker v. Specialty Hospital of
Washington-Hadley, LLC, No. 2018, granted Defendant Specialty Hospital of
Washington-Hadley, LLC.’s Motion In Limine.
The Defendant’s Motion in Limine successfully sought to exclude evidence
of medical bills not covered by Medicare and/or Medicaid payments.
The Plaintiff, Jadine
Acker, a Medicare and Medicaid recipient, allegedly fractured her hip when she
fell from her hospital bed while in the care of Defendant. Following this incident, Plaintiff sued for
medical malpractice. Medicare and
Medicaid paid for $191,734.39 of the total $581,662.09 in resulting medical
bills.
The Defendant argued that
the amount of medical bills not paid by Medicare and/or Medicaid were not owed
to Plaintiff, and, therefore, evidence of those bills should not be permitted
because it would result in the Plaintiff receiving a “windfall.” The Plaintiff contended that the Defendant’s
argument violated the collateral source doctrine. The collateral source doctrine if applicable
would prevent the Defendant from being able to reduce its liability by any
amounts received by the Plaintiff from a source collateral to or independent
from the Defendant, such as Medicare and/or Medicaid.
In his July 19, 2013
Order, Judge Codero determined that here “the application of the collateral
source rule would . . . result in a double payment by the alleged
tortfeasor.” Judge Codero noted that the
reduced payments were made as part of a contractual relationship under which
the Defendant was obligated to accept from Medicare and Medicaid set rates for
its services and write-off any excess.
The Court concluded that the
collateral source rule did not apply, and, therefore, only evidence of “amounts
actually paid by Medicare/Medicaid” were admissible, thus any amounts in excess
of the amount paid by Medicare/Medicaid cannot be introduced as evidence at the
trial set for April 7, 2014.
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