Fleeing Spine Surgeon Can’t Outrun the Law

The Supreme Court of Ohio has ruled that if a medical practitioner flees the state the cutoff date to file a medical malpractice lawsuit is extended.

This means that at least one former patient of Abubakar Atiq Durrani, M.D. can proceed with their lawsuits against the spine surgeon. The surgeon fled to Pakistan after being indicted on 46 federal charges, including performing unnecessary surgeries. For OTW’s original coverage of Dr. Durrani fleeing the U.S., see “Spine Fugitive Durrani Found in Pakistan.”

The current matter involves the cutoff date for filing medical malpractice lawsuits and one of Dr. Durrani’s former patients. In 2010, Dr. Durrani performed spinal surgery on a patient. Within a week the patient purportedly suffered pain and infection.

According to the Supreme Court of Ohio’s Slip Opinion, the patient believes that Dr. Durrani and his clinic, Center for Advanced Spine Technologies, Inc., were “responsible for performing his surgery unnecessarily, negligently, and without his informed consent.” Additionally, the patient believes that the hospital where the surgery was performed, Good Samaritan Hospital of Cincinnati, “was negligent in credentialing Dr. Durrani, among other failings.”

In 2013, Dr. Durrani was indicted on criminal charges related to his medical practice. In 2015, the patient filed a medical malpractice complaint against Dr. Durrani, Dr. Durrani’s clinic, and the hospital. He is one of hundreds of patients who filed similar lawsuits against Dr. Durrani and his clinic.

The defendants subsequently filed motions to dismiss “citing the four-year statute of repose as an absolute bar to the lawsuit.” The trial court granted the motions to dismiss, and the patient subsequently appealed to the First District Court of Appeals.

The First District held that the relevant statute “does toll the repose period as to Dr. Durrani but does not toll the repose period as to the other defendants (Dr. Durrani’s clinic and Good Samaritan Hospital).”

Dr. Durrani appealed. Per the Supreme Court of Ohio’s Slip Opinion, the issue in the current matter was “whether the four-year statute of repose cuts off a plaintiff’s time for filing a medical-malpractice claim when the defendant has fled the country before the statute of repose has expired.” The Supreme Court of Ohio concluded that “an absconding defendant is not entitled to a four-year statute of repose that is not tolled.”

The Supreme Court of Ohio’s decision means that lawsuits may be filed outside the four-year statute of repose when the defendant is absconded from the state.