Jeffs v. Rodier
Annotate this CaseDavid Ragsdale pleaded guilty to aggravated murder for shooting and killing his wife. Ragsdale committed the murder while under the influence of medications prescribed to him by Nurse Practitioner Trina West. The Ragsdales’ children, through their conservator, filed a negligence action against Nurse West and against Dr. Hugo Rodier, the consulting physician for Nurse West. In a previous case, the Court reversed the dismissal of the children’s tort suit against Nurse West. In this case, the Court reviewed the district court’s dismissal of the children’s claim against Dr. Rodier. At issue before the Supreme Court was whether Dr. Rodier had a duty to consult directly with Nurse West as to any individual prescription of controlled substances she wrote for David Ragsdale. The Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of the claim against Ragdale, holding that nothing in the cited provisions of the Utah Nurse Practice Act imposed on Dr. Rodier a duty to consult on each of the individual prescription of a controlled substance.
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