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Fitts v. Arms9/16/2003
Facts and Procedural History
On February 28, 1998, Jesse Randall Fitts, Jr. ("Mr. Fitts") was involved in a single car accident, which rendered him unconscious and necessitated treatment at Columbia Riverpark Hospital ("Riverpark"). At Riverpark, Dr. William Coger ("Dr. Coger"), a radiologist, took x-ray films of Mr. Fitts' cervical and lumbar spine. Dr. Coger and Dr. Donald Arms ("Dr. Arms"), an orthopaedic specialist, both examined the films and found no fracture to Mr. Fitts' spine. Accordingly, Mr. Fitts was discharged from Riverpark without any efforts to stabilize his spine.
A month and a half following the accident, Mr. Fitts fell in the shower and sought treatment at the Medical Center of Manchester. At the Medical Center, Dr. David G. Florence ("Dr. Florence") ordered and viewed x-ray films that revealed a cervical fracture to Mr. Fitts' spine. Dr. Florence immediately stabilized the injury and referred Mr. Fitts to Dr. Phillip Megison ("Dr. Megison"), a neurosurgeon at Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga. After trying several conservative methods that failed to remedy the injury, Dr. Megison performed a cervical fusion on July 29, 1998. In the course of treating Mr. Fitts, Dr. Megison had an opportunity to examine the x-ray films taken at Riverpark on February 28, 1998. According to Dr. Megison, one of these films revealed a fracture to the cervical spine that was overlooked by Drs. Coger and Arms in February. Mr. Fitts subsequently brought suit on February 26, 1999, in the Circuit Court of Warren County against Drs. Coger and Arms for medical malpractice. He alleged that the doctors' failure to timely diagnose and treat the spinal injury in February aggravated the condition, necessitating surgery rather than less intrusive means of treatment. Mr. Fitts' wife, Margie Fitts, brought her related consortium claims, as well.
In the course of trial preparation, Appellants' attorney took possession of the Riverpark radiology films from February 28, 1998 and entrusted them to a medical expert for review and analysis. The medical expert then lost the films for a time, and Drs. Arms and Coger filed a Motion for Order Compelling Production of Radiological Studies on July 14, 2000. The films were subsequently found by the medical expert's office, and the trial court ordered on August 22, 2000 that the films be returned to counsel for Rivermark. The films were then returned to Rivermark, with the exception of the cervical lateral film that allegedly revealed the spinal injury overlooked by Drs. Coger and Arms in February 1998. Both physicians filed a Motion to Compel production of the missing film on September 10, 2001. The trial court entered an order compelling production of the film by December 7, 2001, despite the contention of Appellants' attorney that the film was lost due to good faith error. The trial court held that failure to comply with the order by the given time would prevent Appellants from "entering the film or any information and/or testimony from any source or witness whatsoever gleaned from said film as evidence or otherwise use or refer to it in the adjudication of this matter." Appellants' attorney failed to produce the film by the ordered time.
On November 5, 2001, Dr. Coger filed a Motion for Summary Judgment, supported by his affidavit, a memorandum of law, and a statement of undisputed facts. Dr. Arms then filed a Motion for Summary Judgment on November 21, 2001, likewise supported by an affidavit, a memorandum of law, and a statement of undisputed facts. Appellants filed a response on February 12, 2002, in which they claimed that genuine issues of material fact still remained. Appellants used affidavits by Drs. Megison and Florence to suppo
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