The Tennessee Supreme Court has unanimously declined to change the law on what evidence can be used to prove medical expenses in cases involving personal injury.
In Jean Dedmon v. Debbie Steelman et al., W2015-01462-SC-R11-CV (11/17/17), the Court has held that Tennessee law continues to allow plaintiffs to use full, undiscounted medical bills to prove their medical expenses instead of the discounted amounts paid by insurance companies, and defendants cannot introduce evidence of those insurance payments.
Jean Dedmon had sued for injuries she sustained in a car accident, and attached the bills from her hospital and doctors to her complaint. While the case was pending, the Tennessee Supreme Court issued its opinion in West v. Shelby County Healthcare Corporation, 459 S.W.3d 33 (Tenn. 2014), and held that based upon the specific provisions of Tennessee’s hospital lien statutes, T.C.A. §§ 29-22-101-107, the hospital’s lien was limited to the discounted amounts paid by the patients’ insurance companies.
After West, the defendants in Dedmon argued that the West decision also changed the law in Tennessee for all cases involving personal injuries, contending that personal injury plaintiffs who have insurance can no longer use the full medical bills to prove their medical expenses. The trial court agreed and limited the plaintiffs’ proof on medical expenses to the discounted payments the hospital and doctors had contractually agreed to accept from Mrs. Dedmon’s insurance company.
The plaintiffs appealed to the Court of Appeals, which reversed the trial court, holding that West does not apply in personal injury cases outside the context of the lien statute, Dedmon v. Steelman, 2016 LEXIS 386 (Tenn. App. 2016). However, while plaintiffs who have insurance can use full, undiscounted medical bills to prove medical expenses, the Court of Appeals also said that defendants could use discounted insurance payments to prove that the undiscounted bills were not reasonable. That, of course, opens the door to collateral source evidence.
The Tennessee Supreme Court agreed that its holding in West was not intended to apply to all personal injury cases, but reversed the Court of Appeals on the collateral source issue, holding that insurance payments and other benefits received by plaintiffs that do not come from the defendant (benefits that come from “collateral sources”), may not be used to reduce the defendant’s liability to the plaintiff.
The Supreme Court explained that Tennessee has always followed the collateral source rule, and that it prevents defendants from telling juries about plaintiffs’ insurance and other such benefits. So, after a thorough review, the Supreme Court declined to alter existing law in Tennessee, and held that the collateral source rule applies. Therefore, the plaintiffs may introduce evidence of Mrs. Dedmon’s full, undiscounted medical bills as proof of her reasonable medical expenses, and the defendants may not introduce the discounted rates paid by Mrs. Dedmon’s insurance company for any purpose. The defendants can use other evidence to show that the full medical expenses are not reasonable, however, as long as that evidence does not violate the collateral source rule.
One very interesting point made by the Court was: “it is evident that medical expenses cannot be valued in the same way one would value a house or a car,” since “health care services are highly regulated and rates are skewed by countless factors, only one of which is insurance.” The Court concluded that there is no reason to believe that discounted insurance rates are a more accurate way to determine the value of medical services.
The bottom line: While the Supreme Court acknowledged that the collateral source rule is imperfect, it remains the law in Tennessee.