UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
For the Fifth Circuit
No. 96-30720
Summary Calendar
HELEN M. SAVOY
Plaintiff-Appellant,
VERSUS
METHODIST HOSPITAL
Defendant-Appellee
Appeal from the United States District Court
For the Western District of Louisiana
(96-CV-226)
November 26, 1996
Before SMITH, DUHÉ and BARKSDALE, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:1
Appellant Savoy sued Methodist Hospital of Houston, Texas in
Louisiana for damages arising from the death of her husband
allegedly resulting from blood transfusions administered to him
while hospitalized in Houston. Appellant contended that the blood
administered was contaminated which caused her husband’s death.
1
Pursuant to Local Rule 47.5, the Court has determined that this
opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under
the limited circumstances set forth in Local Rule 47.5.4.
The hospital successfully moved to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(2) for
lack of personal jurisdiction. The district court correctly ruled
that under both Louisiana and Texas law, the administering of blood
was a medical service and not the sale of a product, and that the
hospital lacked the necessary minimum contacts with Louisiana to
make it amenable to suit in Louisiana. We agree for the reasons
stated by the district court.
Appellant contends that the district court erred in its
“stream of commerce” analysis because it relied on the 1990 version
of Louisiana Civil Code Article 2322.1. It is correct that the
court relied on the 1990 version and not the version in effect at
the time the blood was administered. The analysis is not adversely
affected by this fact, however, because it is clear that under both
Texas and Louisiana law in effect at the time of the transfusions,
blood was not a product.
Alternatively, even if blood was considered a product, there
are still insufficient contacts by the hospital with Louisiana to
make it amenable to suit in Louisiana.
AFFIRMED.
2