Appellate Opinion Research Project

By: LaVetra Speight
ASCM 627 Legal Aspects of Contracting
University of Maryland University College
Due: November 9, 2014

Introduction
In this country, it is estimated that more than 1 billion venipunctures or blood drawings are performed by phlebotomists each year. According to Ogden-Grable (2005), phlebotomy errors can cause serious harm to patients; up to and including death, either directly or indirectly. Therefore it is vital to establish, implement, and practice quality control which can help in preventing the number of errors made in this area of clinical service.
I conducted my research on the Maryland state appellate case between the Board of Trustees, Community College of …show more content…

After hearing testimony from both parties’, the circuit court determined that the experts who offered opinions about the Patient First clinic all had vaguely different views of what supervision was required of the phlebotomy students. The lower court agreed with Patient First in finding that in order to determine whether Patient First breached the appropriate standard of care, “some expertise” was required because it was not apparent in the Agreement. Because the court did not know the applicable standard of care it could not “independently determine whether Patient First breached it.” Therefore the lower court concluded that liability was established based upon the breach by the student herself but questioned whether the evidence presented was sufficient enough to show breach by Patient First. Accordingly, the circuit court awarded Patient First $87,097.08 in damages which included $10,000 paid in the settlement and $77,097.08 for attorneys’ fees and costs.
Issues
CCBC disagreed with the lower court’s ruling and filed an appeal to have the case further reviewed. In the appellate case, the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland was asked to determine two issues (1) whether the circuit court erred in finding that the indemnification provision of an agreement required CCBC to indemnify Patient First for its defense