When patient and doctor agree to arbitrate all claims arising out of the patient’s treatment, including claims by the patient’s heirs, are the heirs’ independent wrongful death claims included in that agreement? The California Supreme Court recently decided this question in Ruiz v. Podolsky , 10 C.D.O.S. 11023 , holding that heirs’ wrongful death claims are encompassed in a patient’s agreement to arbitrate. In reaching this decision, the court juggled three competing interests: a legislative goal to lower the cost of medical care by promoting arbitration, the right of heirs to have wrongful death claims determined by a court and the right of patients to privacy in their medical care.
Ruiz v. Podolsky arose after Rafael Ruiz sought treatment for a fractured hip. Ruiz signed an arbitration agreement that stated it was the intent of the signatories to bind “all parties whose claims may arise out of or relate to treatment or service provided by the physician including any spouse or heirs of the patient and any children, whether born or unborn.” Ruiz died shortly afterward; his wife and adult children sued Dr. Anatol Podolsky and other health care providers for wrongful death. Mrs. Ruiz conceded she was bound by the arbitration agreement, so the question before the Supreme Court was whether Ruiz’s arbitration agreement required his adult children to arbitrate their personal claims for wrongful death.
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