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Shepard v. Johnson6/13/2000
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 05/29/1998
TRIAL JUDGE: HON. MARCUS D. GORDON
COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: SCOTT COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - PERSONAL INJURY
TRIAL COURT SUMMARY JUDGMENT GRANTED IN FAVOR OF APPELLEES DISPOSITION:
DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED-6/13/00
. This appeal arises from the Scott County Circuit Court's judgment sustaining Eddie Johnson's, d/b/a Holifield Funeral Home, ("Holifield") motion for summary judgment. The trial court found that Delie Shepard executed a written consent, which authorized the hospital to perform an autopsy on her son and to remove and to retain tissues as the physician deemed proper. We find no error and accordingly, affirm the judgment of the trial court.
FACTS
. On September 29, 1991, Delie Shepard's son, Rodney Stowers, was admitted to Golden Triangle Regional Medical Center (Golden Triangle) for injuries sustained earlier that day at a football game. Four days later Stowers died from his injuries. After Stowers's death, Shepard executed a written authorization allowing the hospital to perform an autopsy on the body. This authorization allowed the examining physician to remove and retain certain tissues and specimens as he deemed necessary. Following the autopsy, Golden Triangle released Stowers body without internal organs to Holifield Funeral Home for burial. After receiving the body, Holifield embalmed and buried it without its internal organs.
. In May of 1992 Stowers body was exhumed for a second autopsy. After the exhumation, Shepard discovered the body had been buried without its internal organs. On October 1, 1993, Shepard filed a complaint in Scott County Circuit Court, individually and as administratrix of Rodney Stowers's estate, against the anesthesiologist, Golden Triangle, Dr. Russell Linton, and Holifield. In May of 1994 the trial court severed and transferred some of the claims to the Lowndes County Circuit Court. Holifield was the only defendant remaining in the Scott County case. Shepard's claim against Holifield alleged improper burial of her son's body without internal organs and failure to inform her of the absence of the body's internal organs.
. On May 22, 1998, Holifield filed a motion for summary judgment, which the Scott County Circuit County granted. After the court denied Shepard's motion to set aside, alter or amend the final judgment, she perfected this appeal.
ANALYSIS OF THE ISSUE AND LAW I.
Whether the court erred in granting Holifield Funeral Home's motion for summary judgment.
. Shepard contends that the chancellor erred in granting Holifield's motion for summary judgment because it was not specifically authorized to bury Stowers's body without its internal organs. She asserts that the written authorization for removal and retention of certain tissues and specimens from the body extended only to the hospital and not to Holifield. Shepard alleges that Holifield was negligent in its duty to inform her of the absence of Stowers's internal organs prior to burial.
. When we are asked to review a lower court's grant of summary judgment, we employ a de novo standard of review. Seymour v. Brunswick Corp., 655 So. 2d 892, 894 (Miss. 1995) (citing Short v. Columbus Rubber & Gasket Co., 535 So. 2d 61, 63 (Miss. 1988)). In applying that standard, we review all evidentiary matters before us in the record: affidavits, depositions, admissions, interrogatories, etc. Seymour, 655 So. 2d at 894. The evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving parties, and they are given the benefit of every reasonable doubt. Mississippi Ins. Guar
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