Greer v. Riverside Community Hospital CA4/1

Filed 4/23/25 Greer v. Riverside Community Hospital CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

MAUREEN P. GREER, as Successor in D084257 Interest, etc. et al.,

Plaintiffs and Appellants, (Super. Ct. No. CVRI2201231) v.

RIVERSIDE COMMUNITY HOSPITAL,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Riverside County, Godofredo Cuison Magno, Judge. Reversed. Etter, McMahon, Lamberson, Van wert & Oreskovich, Robert F. Greer, and John R. Williams, Attorneys for Plaitiffs and Appellants. Dummit Buchholz & Trapp, Craig S. Dummit and John M. Racanelli, Attorneys for Defendant and Respondent.

Plaintiffs and appellants Maureen Greer, Brien Cassidy, and Kevin Cassidy (collectively Appellants) appeal a judgment dismissing their case after the court granted summary judgment in favor of defendant Riverside

Community Hospital (RCH). Because we find there are genuine disputes of material fact, we reverse. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND This case arises from the death of Appellants’ mother, Eileen Cassidy. Before her death, Cassidy suffered from Alzheimer’s dementia and required at-home care. Greer, Cassidy’s daughter, had been granted power of attorney to make medical decisions on Cassidy’s behalf. In October 2020, Cassidy lost consciousness then began vomiting, leading her caregiver to call an ambulance. A report from the responding emergency medical technicians stated, Cassidy was “on the toilet, no falls, no trauma noted, and shortly [after] the patient regained consciousness and vomited.” Cassidy was taken by ambulance to RCH’s emergency room, arriving at 9:16 a.m. Greer arrived at RCH shortly after Cassidy’s ambulance, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, RCH did not allow family members inside. Greer told an emergency room doctor and nurse that she had power of attorney for her mother, who had Alzheimer’s. She told them Cassidy “had these vomiting incidents at home periodically,” and that an RCH doctor had previously instructed her “to always” have her mother sit upright with her head tilted in a downward position “to prevent her from swallowing any vomit and aspirating.” She told them Cassidy “was not to be left alone and that someone needed to be at her side at all times.” Greer wanted her mother released from the hospital, but the doctor and nurse “refused to release [her] and stated that they wanted to run some tests.” “The doctor and nurse told [Greer] that [Cassidy] would be properly supervised, would not be left alone, and that someone would be with her at all times.”