Judge William F. Kuntz II
Minor K.R. sued the government for medical malpractice under the Federal Tort Claims Act. She claimed that while attending public school, she was wrongfully subjected to a visual vaginal inspection by employees of the Lutheran Medical Center School Health Program, a federally funded healthcare program. K.R. asserted that Lutheran’s licensed practical nurse Silverman performed the visual inspection, without consent, in departure from the applicable standard of medical care. K.R. argued that the medical consent and enrollment form signed by her mother did not provide employees of the United States consent to perform the visual vaginal inspection. Addressing the appropriate standard of medical care and scope of medical consent in a school setting during a parent’s absence, the court found the government not liable for medical malpractice. Recounting the facts and circumstances, the court found K.R.’s mother gave informed written consent for the inspection. Silverman’s decision to conduct the inspection—in light of K.R.’s behavior while complaining of ongoing pain in her groin area, and inconclusive results of a urine test and physical exam—and the inspection itself, conformed to generally accepted standards of care.