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Corbitt v. Tatagari8/16/2002
Submitted: June 4, 2002
AFFIRMED.
In this appeal from the Superior Court, we consider the correctness of jury instructions given in a medical malpractice action. The plaintiff below alleged that both his family physician and an emergency room physician breached the standard of care by failing to diagnose him with appendicitis before his appendix ruptured. The jury was instructed on the applicable standard of care, as found in 18 Del. C. ยง 6801(7) . The jury was further offered an explanation of the standard of care using language not found in the statute, but conforming to pattern jury instructions. It is this explanatory language that the plaintiff below objected to, arguing that it gave the impermissible impression that the standard of care is subjective in nature, and requires of a physician only good faith. The trial court overruled the plaintiff's objection, finding that the challenged language gave the jury a helpful, informative and accurate explanation of the standard of care. We agree and affirm.
I.
Appellant/plaintiff below Roger B. Corbitt, Jr. ("Corbitt") brought this medical malpractice action against Dr. Vijay R. Tatagari ("Dr. Tatagari") and Bayview Medical Center, Inc. ("Bayview") alleging that they should have diagnosed him with acute appendicitis and referred him to a surgeon in time to permit surgery before his appendix ruptured. Corbitt claims that the surgery and recovery time necessitated by his ruptured appendix was more extensive than if either Dr. Tatagari or Bayview had properly diagnosed his condition prior to his appendix rupturing. After trial, the jury returned a verdict for the defendants, Dr. Tatagari and Bayview. This appeal followed.
Corbitt began experiencing intense abdominal pain on the morning of December 24, 1996. The pain was such that Corbitt left work and drove two hours to see his family doctor, Dr. Tatagari. Corbitt testified at trial that the pain was so severe that he asked to lie down while waiting for Dr. Tatagari to see him. Dr. Tatagari testified, however, that when he saw Corbitt, Corbitt was sitting up and did not appear to be in extreme pain. Dr. Tatagari took a medical history from Corbitt and conducted a physical examination. When Dr. Tatagari examined Corbitt, he found that Corbitt's pain was in the epigastric region of the abdomen, which is located just above the stomach, under the rib cage. Corbitt did not indicate any pain in the right lower quadrant of his abdomen, where the appendix is located. Dr. Tatagari diagnosed Corbitt with either acute gastritis or peptic ulcer, which were both consistent with Corbitt's physical exam. Dr. Tatagari did not believe Corbitt was suffering from appendicitis because of the lack of pain in the right lower quadrant. Dr. Tatagari prescribed Prilosec, a medication for both gastritis and ulcer, and advised Corbitt to go to the emergency room if his symptoms worsened.
Later that same afternoon, Corbitt's pain increased and he went to the emergency room at Kent General Hospital (now Bayview). At the emergency room, Corbitt was seen by Dr. Hamilton Carter ("Dr. Carter"). Dr. Carter read Corbitt's medical chart, conducted a physical examination, and ordered diagnostic tests, including an x-ray. Again, Corbitt indicated that the pain he was experiencing was limited to the epigastric region of his abdomen, not the right lower quadrant. By this time, Corbitt had also vomited blood, an indication that his stomach was bleeding, consistent with an ulcer. Dr. Carter reviewed the results of the x-ray and saw nothing that he felt would indicate an obstruction or appendicitis. The x-ray did indicate a small bit of matter, called a fecalith, in the area of the ap
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