 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Adams v. Family Planning Associates Medical Group6/30/2000
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County Honorable Leonard L. Levin, Judge Presiding.
Plaintiff, Dianne Adams, appeals from the trial court's denial of her motion for a new trial, following a jury verdict in favor of defendants.
Plaintiff brought this medical malpractice/wrongful death action to recover damages for the death of her 13-year-old daughter, Deanna Bell, following an abortion under general anesthesia. At trial, plaintiff pursued various negligence claims against the following five defendants: (1) the corporation operating the clinic where the abortion was performed (Family Planning Associates Medical Group, Ltd.) (hereinafter FPA-Chicago), (2) the California corporation that provides management services to the Clinic (Family Planning Associates Medical Group, Inc.) (hereinafter FPA-California), (3) the physician who performed the abortion and who is FPA-Chicago's on-site medical director and part owner (Dr. Lichtenberg), (4) the nonresident owner of FPA-California and part owner of FPA-Chicago (Dr. Allred), and (5) the certified registered nurse anesthetist who provided the general anesthesia for the abortion (CRNA Goode).
On appeal, plaintiff asserts that the trial court erred (1) in refusing to instruct the jury regarding res ipsa loquitur and dismissing the counts of the complaint based on that theory; (2) in refusing to instruct the jury that it could consider defendants' internal policies and procedures as evidence of the standard of care; (3) by refusing to allow evidence of the precharting of Deanna Bell's vital signs; (4) in excluding plaintiff's experts' testimony that defendants' expert's research was invalid and biased; (5) in refusing to allow impeachment of defendant Goode by his discovery deposition; and (6) in excluding evidence of defendants' "assembly line" approach to general anesthesia abortion procedures.
For the following reasons, the order of the circuit court denying plaintiff's motion for a new trial is reversed and the cause remanded to the circuit court.
Deanna Bell was 13 years old at the time of her death. She was approximately 20.5 weeks pregnant and had arranged to have an abortion at FPA-Chicago's Elston Avenue facility on September 3-5, 1992. The abortion procedure used for such second-trimester abortions is called a "Dilation and Extraction" or "D&E;" and is performed over the course of three days. On the first and second days, objects called laminaria are placed into the patient's cervix to dilate it. On the third day of the procedure, the actual extraction procedure is performed.
On September 3, 1992, Bell went to the Elston Avenue clinic, where she received and filled out informational and consent forms. The D&E;procedure began that same day with the insertion of certain dilating agents (laminaria and Dilapan) into Bell's cervix. Bell was then instructed to return the next day for additional dilation procedures.
On September 4, Bell returned to the Elston Avenue clinic to have additional laminaria inserted by a nurse practitioner. However, the nurse practitioner was unable to remove the laminaria because the dilating devices were too tight, Bell's cervix was immature, and Bell was unable to cooperate by lying still. Bell was sent to the Washington Boulevard facility, where Dr. Lichtenberg was working that day, to have the procedure performed under general anesthesia. In an approximately 20-minute procedure, Dr. Lichtenberg removed the laminaria that had been inserted the day before and inserted new ones. Certified registered nurse anesthetist Larry Hill administered the anesthesia for the procedure.
Bell was given 150 milligrams (mg) of Brevital as a
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Illinois Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|