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York v. El-Ganzouri9/27/2004
ush held itself out as providing--and Dr. York relied on it to provide--all of the services, including those of Dr. El-Ganzouri (Emphasis in original)." Rush also argues that the omission of the "or others" language precluded the jury from considering whether Dr. York relied on Dr. Jeff York, and not Rush, to provide his attending anesthesiologist. We disagree.
To begin, we find that the given instruction adequately informed the jury of the law surrounding Rush's holding out of the relevant anesthesia services. As discussed previously, Dr. York only needed to prove that he relied on Rush for the provision of the medical service and personnel in which and by whom the malpractice was committed. Dr. York did not need to prove that he relied on Rush to provide "all of the services." Hence, in this regard, Rush's proposed instruction would misstate the law and could mislead the jury. Rush raises an additional concern that, without the "complete" language, the jury could have concluded that Rush held out Dr. El-Ganzouri as its employee based only on the undisputed fact that its anesthesiology residents were employees. However, we view this as a formalistic, counterintuitive reading of the instruction. In our view, the conjunction in the same paragraph of the necessary holding out by Rush, along with the requirement that Dr. York reasonably lacked knowledge as to Dr. El-Ganzouri's true employment status, makes it clear that the holding out by the hospital at issue is that of Dr. El-Ganzouri.
We likewise do not find the omission of "or others" to constitute an abuse of discretion. Rush did present evidence, direct and circumstantial, that Dr. York relied on Dr. Jeff York to procure his anesthesiologist, which would have justified the inclusion of the "or others" language in the instruction. However, contrary to Rush's assertion, the jury's consideration of Dr. Jeff York's potential involvement in the choice of anesthesiologists was not precluded under the given instruction. Under that instruction Dr. York had to prove not only that he did not choose Dr. El-Ganzouri to be his anesthesiologist, but also that he, instead, relied on Rush. Under the given instruction, had the jury believed that Dr. York relied on Dr. Jeff York, and not Rush, it still could have returned a finding of no liability. Thus, we find the jury to still have been fairly apprised of the law under the instruction it received. Schultz, 201 Ill. 2d at 273-74, 775 N.E.2d at 972-73 (a jury instruction is sufficient so long as it "fairly, fully, and comprehensively apprised the jury of the relevant legal principles").
For all the foregoing reasons, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court.
Affirmed.
McBRIDE and O'MALLEY, J.J., concur.
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