Nichols v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc.

Appellant Mary H. Nichols, the plaintiff below, had been a patient and subscriber since at least 1990 of appellee Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc., a defendant below. Kaiser operated various medical facilities available to its subscribers, including pharmacies at Falls Church and Reston staffed by its employees.

In this action for damages, the plaintiff alleged that while being seen by a Kaiser physician in April 1995 for respiratory disease she was given a prescription for medrol, a steroid medication. The plaintiff further alleged that the prescription was…