Fifteen months after it officially ceased to exist, BJC Medical Center has, apparently, resolved all of the medical malpractice litigation it faced.
In a brief meeting Saturday morning, the BJC Medical Center Authority — the former governing body of the facility — accepted a settlement with its liability insurance company that will cover all outstanding medical malpractice issues.
“All of the malpractice is done,” declared Philip M. Sprinkle II, a representative of Balch & Bingham LLP, the authority’s legal firm, after the authority voted unanimously to accept the offer.
The authority agreed to pay Zurich American Insurance Company and its wholly owned subsidiary American Zurich Insurance Company, $470,000 to cover deductibles on outstanding cases.
Member Jimmy Hooper made the motion to accept the settlement, calling it “a no-brainer.”
The authority had already set aside $350,000 for that purpose. The settlement requires it to pony up another $120,000 to put all of the liability issues behind it.
“There are three or four pending cases yet to be defended,” Sprinkle pointed out.
The authority also has yet to settle a lawsuit with a respiratory contractor and must pay for a closing audit.
“Zurich has settled on our behalf 10 of 14 claims relative to Dr. Ash,” said Blair.
Ash is the medical center’s former general surgeon.
Blair also pointed out that Zurich had and has the authority to settle claims against BJC without consulting the authority.
“We have no input. They negotiate a settlement and we get a bill for the deductible,” he said.
After the $420,000 settlement with Zurich, the authority has about $310,000 left, according to Sprinkle, who said that if the remaining issues are settled in the authority’s favor, it should be left with about $75,000 in cash before the authority dissolves.
Under the agreement by which the authority sold the medical center, now known as Northridge, to Restoration Healthcare in early 2010, that money would go to fund indigent healthcare, although the specific process has yet to be determined.
