Cite as 344 Ark. 627 (2001)
prior complaints about the AHEC family-practice, residency-training program.
[1] Before addressing the merits of the instant appeal, we consider appellant's pending motion to supplement the addendum. During preparation for oral argument, appellant discovered that copies of certain enumerated items were inadvertently omitted from the addendum, including the trial court's April 22, 1999 order denying appellant's motion for new trial and the second page of a transcript excerpt concerning the admissibility of an autopsy photograph. We recognize that appellant is not seeking to amend the addendum but to ensure that this court has complete copies of all items currently indexed. Accordingly, we grant appellant's motion.
I. Partial summary judgment against Estate of Baby Boy Aka
A. Chatelain v. Kelley
The trial court granted partial summary judgment against the Estate of Baby Boy Aka on the basis of Chatelain v. Kelley, 322 Ark. 517, 910 S.W.2d 215 (1995). For his first point on appeal, appellant urges us to reexamine our four–three decision holding that a viable fetus is not a "person" pursuant to Arkansas's wrongful-death statute. Chatelain, 322 Ark. at 525, 910 S.W.2d at 219. In Chatelain, this court reasoned that judicial expansion of the wrongful-death statute to include a fetus was inappropriate because the issue was a matter of "legislative prerogative" and would be contrary to then-existing probate and criminal laws. However, appellant and amid curiae contend that this decision must be overruled to effectuate the remedial purposes of the wrongful-death statute, to bring Arkansas in line with the majority of states that have considered the issue[1], and, most
- ↑ Thirty-two jurisdictions permit a wrongful-death action on behalf of a viable fetus. (Of those thirty-two jurisdictions, four permit an action for an unviable fetus (Connecticut, Missouri, South Dakota, and West Virginia)). Four jurisdictions permit an action, even for unviable fetuses, but have a live birth or stillbirth requirement (Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania). One jurisdiction permits an alternative remedy by allowing an action for damages resulting in stillbirth caused by negligence (Florida). One jurisdiction noted in dicta that a wrongful-death action might be permitted but declined to reach the merits on procedural grounds (Utah). Three jurisdictions prohibit an action for an unborn nonviable fetus but have not reached the issue of whether a viable fetus may maintain an action (Alaska, Oregon, and Rhode Island). Four jurisdictions have no case law on the issue (Colorado, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Wyoming). Only nine jurisdictions, including Arkansas,reject a wrongful-death action for a viable fetus.
