Supreme Court of Missouri / May 1, 2018
Marilyn Hink, Appellant, vs. Loring Helfrich, M.D., Respondent, Ly Phan, M.D., Missouri Delta Physicians Services, and Missouri Delta Medical Center, Defendants.
Marilyn Hink appealed the dismissal of her medical malpractice case for failing to file an affidavit of merit as required by section 538.225, RSMo. She argued the statute violated Missouri's open courts provision, right to trial by jury, and separation of powers. The Missouri Supreme Court reaffirmed its prior decision in Mahoney v. Doerhoff Surgical Services, Inc., upholding the constitutionality of the affidavit requirement. The Court affirmed the circuit court's judgment, declining to address Ms. Hink's more specific constitutional challenges to the statute's expert definition or single-expert interpretation because she failed to file any affidavit, thus lacking standing for those particular arguments.