Kaplan v. Mayo Clinic

Elliot Kaplan (plaintiff), after a CT scan showed an enlarged pancreas, was referred to Mayo Clinic Rochester (Mayo) (defendant), where surgeon David Nagorney (defendant), after consulting Mayo pathologists, recommended surgery to remove suspected cancerous portions of Kaplan's pancreas and stomach; post-surgical pathology later found no cancer at all. Kaplan and his wife (plaintiffs) sued Mayo and the physicians for both breach of contract and negligent failure to diagnose, and the district court granted summary judgment to Dr. Nagorney and, at the close of Kaplan's case, granted judgment as a matter of law to Mayo and Dr. Burgart on the contract claim, treating it as simply a medical-negligence claim in different clothing; the jury then found for Mayo and Burgart on the negligence claim. The Kaplans appealed both rulings.