Court reviews whether a general consent to medical care covers dental work performed without obtaining consent from a patient or patient's attorney-in-fact

KATHERINE RANGE, ET AL. v. C. M. SOWELL, JR., D.D.S. (Tenn. Ct. App. December 22, 2009)

The son of a nursing home patient claimed that the defendant dentist committed battery against his mother by performing dental work on her without obtaining proper consent from either the mother or from the son in his capacity as her attorney-in-fact. The dentist argued that he had operated under a general consent to medical care that the son executed at the time of his mother's admission to the nursing home, that the mother was not injured by the care he provided, and that the statute of limitations barred the son's claims. The trial court granted summary judgment to the dentist. We affirm the summary judgment, but modify that part of the trial court's award of discretionary costs which held the son personally liable for those costs.

Opinion may be found at:
http://www.tba2.org/tba_files/TCA/2009/rangek_corr_122209.pdf