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Smith v. Sass2/5/2004
Judgment: Affirmed
. Defendants-appellants appeal from the trial court's judgment entered upon the jury verdict in this medical malpractice case and the trial court's order that granted plaintiff's motion for prejudgment interest. After careful review, we affirm.
. Plaintiff commenced this action as Adminstratrix of the Estate of Lawrence A. Smith, Jr., Deceased. Mr. Smith died on June 8, 1999 as the result of cardiac arrest. The autopsy report revealed that Mr. Smith suffered from "severe coronary artery atherosclerosis" and indicated a "remote myocardial infarct," which was described by expert testimony as longstanding heart disease and a previous heart attack. Plaintiff maintained that the defendants' negligent medical care and treatment of Mr. Smith caused his death.The record establishes that the decedent was a patient of defendant Franklin Price, M.D. between 1995 and 1999. Decedent, among other things, suffered from diabetes, was overweight, and smoked. Dr. Price repeatedly urged decedent to lose weight and quit smoking. According to Dr. Price, decedent preferred to manage his diabetes through diet and exercise rather than through medication. Decedent had little success losing weight or lowering his high cholesterol levels over the years. Ultimately, Dr. Price prescribed medication for him in April 1999. During the course of decedent's treatment, Dr. Price interpreted EKGs performed on decedent in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 1999.
. On April 12, 1999, decedent underwent a physical and EKG. Dr. Price stated that he was "a little concerned about the V-6" on that particular EKG, which prompted him to advise decedent to see a cardiologist, Dr. James Lane, for a stress test within the next 30 days. Dr. Price's office notes from that visit indicate "we will give [Mr. Smith] the name of Dr. James Lane at Severance." Dr. Price's receptionist stated at trial that she had no recollection of decedent or a referral to Dr. Lane. Decedent returned to Dr. Price's office on April 26, 1999. Dr. Price did not follow-up on the referral to the cardiologist at that time.
. Plaintiff suggests that Dr. Price failed to refer decedent to the cardiologist and/or that Dr. Price was negligent in not following up on the referral or not considering such referral as being urgent. She states that decedent would have told her about any referral; would have complied with the doctor's instructions to see Dr. Lane; and would have put an appointment card on the refrigerator, as was his habit. Dr. Price corroborated that decedent was generally a compliant patient. The evidence reflects that when Dr. Price previously referred decedent to another physician for potential prostrate cancer, decedent complied and ultimately underwent surgery.
. Plaintiff's expert, Dr. Glasser, testified that Dr. Price breached the standard of care in his treatment of decedent. In Dr. Glasser's opinion, the EKGs, when read in conjunction with decedent's history and risk factors, should have raised a concern of underlying heart disease. Dr. Glasser further testified that decedent should have been prescribed medication to lower the risk of heart disease and failure to do so was a breach of the standard of care. Defendants' experts disagree and all testified that Dr. Price met the standard of care under the guidelines that existed during the relevant time of treatment which were known as ATP II. The ATP guidelines changed in 2001, which required certain individuals to be placed on statin drugs who were not required to be medicated under the previous guidelines of ATP II. The studies precipitating these changes were in medical publications in the 1990s.
. Defendants moved to exclude Dr. G
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