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Banks v. Sunrise Hospital12/17/2004
ician testimony demonstrating that the failure of the Narkomed II would have caused James's injury. Therefore, the jury could have reasonably determined that Sunrise's conduct departed from the accepted standard of care and that Sunrise's failure to maintain equipment actually and proximately caused James's injury. Conflicting evidence existed as to whether the equipment's malfunctioning caused James's injury. Viewing the evidence and the inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to Banks, we conclude that the district court properly denied Sunrise's motion for a directed verdict.
Similarly, because conflicting evidence existed as to whether James's brain injury was proximately related to his rotator cuff surgery, the res ipsa loquitur issue was one for the jury, not the court. Accordingly, viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to Banks, we conclude that the district court properly denied Sunrise's motion for a directed verdict.
New Trial
We review a district court's denial of a new trial motion for an abuse of discretion. Sunrise contends that the jury manifestly disregarded numerous jury instructions, warranting a new trial under NRCP 59(a)(5). Sunrise argues that the jury disregarded instructions (1) stating that the plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant was negligent and that the negligence was the proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries; (2) defining proximate cause; (3) defining preponderance of evidence; (4) stating that the plaintiff had the burden of establishing all the facts necessary to prove negligence and causation, except as stated in the res ipsa loquitur instruction and the adverse inference instruction; (5) setting forth the hospital's duty to use reasonable care to maintain equipment; and (6) stating that " he fact that a particular injury suffered by a patient as a result of an operation is something that rarely occurs does not in itself prove that the injury was probably caused by negligence."
Because the evidence does not support Sunrise's allegation that the jury disregarded the above jury instructions, we conclude that Sunrise's argument is without merit. For instance, the jury could have reasonably found that Sunrise was negligent in its duty to maintain equipment based on evidence that the equipment was fifteen years old; that while Sunrise had regularly scheduled maintenance checks, the checks may have been insufficient; that because the equipment was not available for inspection, experts were unable to testify to a reasonable degree of certainty that the equipment was functioning properly; and that no one in the operating room had heard alarms which should have sounded once James's blood pressure dropped. The jury also may have concluded that, despite Sunrise's testimony that Dr. Kinsman's negligence was the sole proximate cause of James's cardiac arrest, Banks's witnesses' testimony that the malfunctioning equipment would have affected James's ventilation was more persuasive. Finally, although Sunrise presented physician testimony that cardiac arrests and vasovagal events could occur during outpatient surgery, the jury could reasonably have found that Banks's expert's testimony, that such events did not usually occur during outpatient surgery in the absence of negligence, was more persuasive.
Sunrise also contends that it was deprived of a fair trial as a result of the district court's decision to instruct the jury with Jury Instruction Nos. 22, 27, 28 and 32. Additionally, Sunrise claims that these instructions should not have been given to the jury as they were not supported by the evidence. Finally, Sunrise claims these instructions misstate the law.
Jury
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