Alabama Court: University Hospital Shares State Immunity

The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled for the first time that a hospital affiliated with a state university shares the state’s immunity from lawsuits.

The 5-3 decision threw out a $3.2 million judgment against a Montgomery hospital.

Justices said that the Alabama Constitution provides immunity from lawsuits to the state and its agencies.

The court said such immunity applied to Baptist Medical Center East because its parent company, Baptist Health, turned over operations to the University of Alabama and its University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System in 2005. The board of the University of Alabama created a health care authority to operate the hospital.

Justice Mike Bolin wrote in the majority decision that “a health care authority created by a state educational institution is entitled to state immunity.”

Former Lt. Gov. Jere Beasley, a plaintiff lawyer, said the decision will cause future medical lawsuits to be focused on doctors instead of hospitals. “If someone is killed or disabled for life, they are going to look for someone to sue. If they can’t sue the hospital, they are going to sue the doctor who admitted them to the hospital,” Beasley said.

Yet in that scenario, a plaintiff would have to show the doctor was directly liable for an injury that may have occurred.