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Juchniewicz v. Bridgeport Hospital12/7/2004
ed that the plaintiff's decedent was being treated by an orthopedic surgeon and taking Roxicet for an unrelated and pre-existing shoulder injury, and that the shoulder injury was not a symptom of infection.
After hearing the evidence and arguments, the court concluded that the defendant had not argued contributory negligence but, instead, had utilized the evidence of the representations of the plaintiff's decedent to him in support of his claim that he had acted reasonably. On the basis of the record, we agree with the court's conclusion and determine, therefore, that the court did not abuse its discretion by failing to require the defendant to amend the pleadings to assert the claim of contributory negligence and by failing to instruct the jury regarding contributory negligence.
III.
The plaintiff's final claim is that the court improperly denied his motion in limine to preclude the defendant from offering any evidence of the contributory negligence of the plaintiff's decedent. Prior to the start of trial, the plaintiff orally moved in limine for the court to prohibit the defendant from asking any questions that might elicit answers that attribute negligence to the plaintiff's decedent. The court denied the motion, stating that it was "not going to rule out any such questions at this time." The plaintiff argues that the court's failure to preclude the defendant's inquiry into the negligence of the plaintiff's decedent was improper. We disagree.
"The trial court's ruling on the admissibility of evidence is entitled to great deference will be overturned on appeal only where there was an abuse of discretion and a showing by the defendant of substantial prejudice or injustice. . . . When reviewing claims under an abuse of discretion standard, the unquestioned rule is that great weight is due to the action of the trial court and every reasonable presumption should be given in favor of its correctness . . . . In determining whether there has been an abuse of discretion, the ultimate issue is whether the court could reasonably conclude as it did." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) PSE Consulting, Inc. v. Frank Mercede & Sons, Inc., 267 Conn. 279, 328-29, 838 A.2d 135 (2004).
Evidence is admissible if it is relevant to the issues raised in the pleadings. Conn. Code Evid. ยง 4-1, commentary; Borkowski v. Sacheti, supra, 43 Conn. App. 321-22. "Relevant evidence is evidence which has a logical tendency to aid the trier of fact in the determination of an issue. . . . No precise and universal test of relevancy is furnished by the law, and the question must be determined in each case according to the teachings of reason and judicial experience. . . . It has been said that ne fact is relevant to another if in the common course of events the existence of the one, alone or with other facts, renders the existence of the other either more certain or more probable." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Borkowski v. Sacheti, supra, 321.
As previously stated, in a medical malpractice case, the standard of care by which a defendant's conduct should be measured is influenced by the facts and circumstances surrounding a patient's treatment. In Borkowski, the court denied a similar motion in limine brought by the plaintiff to exclude the defendant from introducing any evidence that the plaintiff's decedent was a noncompliant patient who caused his death by failing to attend to his medical needs. Id., 325. The plaintiff argued that such evidence was inadmissible absent a plea of contributory negligence. Id., 315. On appeal, we stated that the defendant has "the right to introduce evidence of those relevant and material fact
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