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Dorfman v. Schwabl12/22/2000
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Orange County, Richard F. Conrad, Judge.
In this medical negligence case, defendant Charles F. Dorfman, M.D., timely appeals the final judgment entered in favor of plaintiffs Christopher Schwabl and his parents, Bruce and Jeannette Schwabl. We affirm.
On 21 October 1996, Christopher, then a fourteen year old, developed abdominal pain in the early evening after school. The pain worsened and his mother brought him to Florida Hospital Altamonte between 10 and 11 p.m. The emergency room physician determined that he likely had testicular torsion in his right testicle, a condition which can lead to the loss of the testicle if not treated correctly. Dorfman, a urologist on staff, was called at home to come to the hospital and examine Christopher. By the time Dorfman observed Christopher, Christopher's pain had apparently subsided. Dorfman determined that just as Christopher had spontaneously torsed, he must have spontaneously detorsed and thus was no longer in danger of losing his testicle. Dorfman reached this conclusion despite two medical tests which indicated blood was still not flowing to Christopher's testicle. Dorfman sent Christopher home at 4 a.m. on the 22nd, rather than performing a surgery called an orchiopexy that would have corrected the bellclapper anomaly in both testicles, and prevented any further possibility of torsion. Christopher saw Dorfman later that same day experiencing no pain, but the following day Christopher woke up with the recurrence of pain and his mother took him back to Dorfman's office. Dorfman rushed him back to the hospital and performed surgery. Christopher's right testicle was dead. Dorfman removed the dead testicle. Shortly thereafter, this medical malpractice action commenced.
Christopher and his parents filed their complaint, alleging that Dorfman had breached the standard of care for a doctor treating a young man presenting with testicular torsion. Originally set for an August 1999 trial, the trial finally took place in September 1999 and lasted four days. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the Schwabls and awarded $675,000.00 in past and future non-economic damages.
Dorfman raises several issues in his appeal. Pursuant to Dorfman's motion in limine, the trial court initially ruled that the Schwabls' counsel could not inquire regarding the five times Dorfman had failed his board certification test prior to treating Christopher. Instead, the trial court determined that the Schwabls' counsel could only establish that Dorfman was not board certified and that he had unsuccessfully taken the board exam. The trial court revisited that decision when Dorfman's counsel made an issue out of one of the Schwabls' experts having failed the board certification test himself, repeatedly addressing the fact that the expert had failed his first board certification test. That questioning, intentionally or not, severely emphasized that the expert had failed his first board certification test.
Under these circumstances, it would have been unfair to limit the examination of Dorfman according to the strictures of the prior ruling, because it would have left the jury with the incorrect impression that Dorfman and this expert were on the same footing as to both having failed the board certification test. By raising and emphasizing the point that this expert had failed his first board certification test, Dorfman opened the door for the testimony regarding Dorfman's having failed the test five times. These physicians' testimonies were going to be compared and contrasted by the jury, and by emphasizing the expert's having failed his first board certification test, Dorfman was tacitly asking the jury to disc
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