Reversing a lower court's rule in favor of a health care provider, the Massachusetts Court of Appeals concluded it may be held liable for allegedly failing to provide an on-call interventional radiologist for a patient who died within hours of arriving at the emergency room.

In a Thursday decision, authored by Massachusetts Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's grant of summary judgment to Saint Vincent Radiological Associates on Dolores M. Brown's negligence claim, concluding the defendant had a contractual agreement with Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, to provide an on-call provider. When Brown's husband was in need of "an emergent cholecystostomy tube," to drain an infection in the patient's gallbladder, the on-call interventional radiologist was "unavailable at that time and would not be available for another three days," the opinion said.