Justia Medical Malpractice Opinion Summaries

Twelve-year-old J.K. underwent an appendectomy performed by Appellee, but complications arose requiring additional surgery and medical treatment. Appellants, on behalf of J.K., filed a medical malpractice claim against Appellee. Appellee moved to dismiss, alleging that the claim was barred by the two-year statute of limitations contained in Wyo. Stat. Ann. 1-3-107(a)(ii). The district court granted the motion. Appellants appealed, arguing that the statute, as applied to minors, violates the Wyoming Constitution. The Supreme Court agreed and therefore reversed, holding that section 1-3-107(a)(ii) violates the open courts provision of Wyoming’s Constitution by restricting a minor’s access to the courts. Remanded. View "Kordus v. Montes" on Justia Law

After Susan Special died following the delivery of her son, Frank Special, Susan’s husband and the personal representative of his wife’s estate, filed a negligence lawsuit against Dr. Ivo Baux, Baux’s related corporations, and West Boca Medical Center, Inc. for negligence. After a jury trial, the trial court entered judgment in favor of the defendants. The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed, concluding that alleged errors on the part of the trial court “did not contribute to the verdict” and were therefore harmless. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new trial, holding (1) the test for harmless error requires the beneficiary of the error to prove that there is no reasonable possibility that the error complained of contributed to the verdict; and (2) there was a reasonable possibility in this case that the errors by the trial court contributed to the verdict. View "Special v. W. Boca Med. Ctr." on Justia Law

Appellant, as the special administrator of the Estate of Robert Nash, filed a wrongful-death suit against Dr. Victor Williams alleging that Dr. Williams placed a nasogastric tube against Nash’s express wishes and that he placed it improperly, thereby causing Nash to aspirate and suffer hypoxic brain injury. After a trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Dr. Williams. On appeal, Appellant argued, among other things, that the circuit court abused its discretion in giving the jury erroneous and confusing instructions in a case premised on lack of consent. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new trial, holding that the circuit court abused its discretion in instructing the jury regarding the issue of informed consent. View "Millsap v. Williams" on Justia Law

Joanne Anderson sued Jackson Hospital and Clinic, Inc., Dr. Stephen K. Kwan, and Dr. Kwan's practice group, Capital Cardio-Thoracic, P.C. asserting medical-malpractice claims against them. The trial court granted a motion to substitute bankruptcy trustee Daniel Hamm for Anderson as the real party in interest because Anderson had filed a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after her medical malpractice claim had accrued. The Jackson Hospital defendants subsequently petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court for permission to file an interlocutory appeal, arguing that Hamm's attempt to be substituted as the real party in interest was untimely. Anderson filed a separate Rule 5 petition for permission to appeal challenging the trial court's decision to remove her as the plaintiff in this case. The Supreme Court granted both petitions; however, treated the parties' petitions for permissive appeals as petitions for writs of mandamus, found that neither were entitle to mandamus relief, and denied the petitions. View "Anderson v. Jackson Hospital & Clinic" on Justia Law

Diane Truddle, as mother and wrongful-death beneficiary of Eric Carmichael, sued Baptist Memorial Hospital-Desoto, Inc., and Dr. Sunil Malhotra after Carmichael committed suicide upon being discharged from Baptist. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Baptist and Dr. Malhotra and entered a final judgment in their favor as a matter of law. Truddle appealed. Finding no error in the trial court's grant of summary judgment to defendants, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Truddle v. Baptist Memorial Hospital-Desoto, Inc." on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed a medical malpractice action against Defendant, an oral maxillofacial surgeon, after Defendant’s thwarted attempted to extract three of Plaintiff’s wisdom teeth resulted in permanent numbness in Plaintiff’s lower left jaw area. Plaintiff contended that Defendant was negligent in failing to properly diagnose the condition of his wisdom teeth and in recommending and performing the teeth extractions. The jury rendered a verdict for Plaintiff. Defendant appealed, arguing that the circuit court erred in excluding evidence of the risk of surgery discussions between him and Plaintiff. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the circuit court did not err in excluding from evidence Defendant’s risk of surgery discussions with Plaintiff. View "Fiorucci v. Chinn" on Justia Law

This was a medical malpractice case arising out of the treatment of Rosamond Mattox at Life Care of Lewiston (LCL). The plaintiff-appellant, Rosamond's son Gene Mattox, claimed that LCL's sub-standard care caused his mother's death. The district court excluded Gene's experts' affidavits after concluding that they failed to demonstrate actual knowledge of the applicable standard of health care practice. The district court then granted summary judgment in favor of LCL. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded the district court erred in granting summary judgment: "[t]he affidavits here were clearly admissible. Both affidavits establish actual knowledge of the applicable standard of health care practice and the means by which [the experts] became familiar with that standard. The affidavits should have been admitted and, had they been, they present[ed] genuine issues of material fact that would preclude summary judgment." View "Mattox v. Life Care Centers of America" on Justia Law

Jami and Ryan Conner appealed the district court's grant of summary judgment dismissing their claims for medical malpractice, breach of contract, and loss of consortium. The Conners alleged that Jami unexpectedly became pregnant due to Dr. Bryan Hodges' negligent performance of a bilateral tubal ligation. The district court concluded that the medical malpractice claim was barred by a two-year statute of limitations, as Jami suffered some damage that was objectively ascertainable at the time of the surgery. Upon review, the Supreme Court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment dismissing the Conners' breach of contract and consortium claims but vacated the judgment dismissing the medical malpractice claim. View "Conner v. Hodges" on Justia Law

Lisa Allred alleged that she sustained second and third-degree burns as a result of a lithotripsy procedure performed by Dr. Ronald Saunders. Lisa and Marlin Allred brought a medical malpractice suit against American Fork Hospital and Dr. Saunders. During discovery, Plaintiffs sought production of Dr. Saunders’ credentialing file from the Hospital, as well as the Hospital’s internal incident file concerning the lithotripsy procedure. The Hospital objected, asserting that the peer-review and care-review privileges protected the requested files from discovery. The district court (1) ruled that Dr. Saunders’ credentialing file was not privileged and ordered the Hospital to produce it; and (2) ordered the Hospital to produce the incident file for in camera review for the trial court to determine whether the documents were privileged. The Hospital and Dr. Saunders sought review. The Supreme Court (1) held Utah R. Civ. P. 26 creates an evidentiary privilege and remanded the matter for consideration of whether the items contained in Dr. Saunders’ credentialing file and the Hospital’s incident file were privileged from discovery under the amended Rule 26; and (2) held that the district court may undertake in camera review of any questionably-withheld material. View "Allred v. Saunders" on Justia Law

This appeal stemmed from a medical malpractice claim brought by Scott and Meri Bybee against Dr. Patrick Gorman. The district court granted Dr. Gorman's motion for summary judgment after concluding that the Bybees' medical expert had failed to show adequate familiarity with the applicable standard of health care practice in the relevant community as required by Idaho Code sections 6-1012 and 6-1013, rendering his opinion inadmissible. Finding that the trial court erred by that decision, the Supreme Court vacated the judgment and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Bybee v. Gorman" on Justia Law