2-1704.Medical Malpractice Action.

Section 2-1704 supplies the definition that anchors this Part: a “medical malpractice action” is any action, whether framed in tort, in contract, or on another theory, in which the plaintiff seeks damages for injury or death caused by medical, hospital, or other healing art malpractice. The definition looks past how a plaintiff labels the claim and focuses on what the claim is about.

The statute then narrows what “healing art” means for this purpose. It does not include care and treatment given through prayer alone, so long as that care follows the tenets and practices of a recognized church or religious denomination. An action arising from that kind of spiritual care falls outside the definition of medical malpractice action, and outside this Part’s reach.

Because Section 2-1701 makes this Part applicable to all medical malpractice actions, this definition decides which cases the surviving sections of Part 17 — the economic and non-economic loss definitions in Section 2-1702 and the past/future damages definitions in Section 2-1703 — reach in the first place.