# Nellie Woods, as Personal Representative of the Estate of John N. Woods v. Holy Cross Hospital

> Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · March 26, 1979 · 591 F.2d 1164

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9465482

## Case

- **Full name:** Nellie WOODS, as Personal Representative of the Estate of John N. Woods, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HOLY CROSS HOSPITAL Et Al., Defendants-Appellees
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- **Decided:** March 26, 1979
- **Citations:** 591 F.2d 1164; 1979 U.S. App. LEXIS 15944
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Roney
- **Judges:** Jones, Roney, Tjoflat
- **Cited by:** 129 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9465482

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- rejecting contention that statutory prohibition against calling panel members to testify renders admissibility provision unconstitutional, on grounds that panel finding is not conclusive evidence and parties remain free to present at trial the same witnesses and exhibits that …
- holding that Florida is free to require pre-suit mediation for any medical malpractice case
- noting that a Florida statute permitting access to courts only after mediation of a medical malpractice claim is not a denial of court access

## Opinion text

RONEY, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the result reached by Judge Tjoflat on the ground that the Florida plan for handling medical malpractice claims meets the rational relationship standard required for constitutionality, which all parties here agree to be the proper test. Once that standard is met, neither the federal Government nor this Court should concern itself with the wisdom of the plan. A state program can be both good and bad, or either, and still be rational so as to hurdle the constitutional obstacles of equal protection and due process. The success of a program, or lack thereof, does not provide the key to constitutionality, only rationality or the lack thereof.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9465482. Public record. Not legal advice.