Smothers v. Richland Memorial Hospital

STILWELL, Judge:

James Donald Smothers, Jr. appeals the trial court’s determination that a prior release of claims precludes the present medical malpractice action. We affirm.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On October 23, 1981, Smothers was involved in an automobile accident which required emergency surgery at Richland Memorial Hospital (Hospital). Doctor J. Jeffrey Brown, accompanied by resident physicians Louis Viamontes and McCrea Ewart, performed the surgery during which Smothers’s severed right hepatic artery and right hepatic duct were repaired. Smothers was later readmitted to the hospital with fever…