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DCH Healthcare Authority v. Duckworth12/19/2003
t views the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-movant and entertains such reasonable inferences as the jury would have been free to draw. Motion Industries, Inc. v. Pate, 678 So. 2d 724 (Ala. 1996)."
Delchamps, Inc. v. Bryant, 738 So. 2d 824, 830-31 (Ala. 1999).
Mrs. Duckworth's theory of the case is that the Center's diagnosis of her husband's condition and its treatment was dilatory. More specifically, she complains of the failure of emergency-department personnel to respond timely and appropriately to her husband's visibly deteriorating condition "over a three (3) hour period." Mrs. Duckworth's brief, at 23. She contends that "this inferior care ... adversely affected condition," namely, the subdural hematoma, from which he subsequently died.
"To prove liability in a medical malpractice case, the plaintiff is required to show that the health care provider failed to exercise such reasonable care, skill, and diligence as other similarly situated health care providers in the same general line of practice ordinarily have and exercise in a like case." Parker v. Collins, 605 So. 2d 824, 826 (Ala. 1992). "There must be more than the mere possibility that the negligence complained of caused the injury; rather, there must be evidence that the negligence complained of probably caused the injury." Id.
As to causation in a dilatory-diagnosis-and-treatment case such as this one, "an action 'may properly be submitted to the jury where there is evidence that prompt diagnosis and treatment would have placed the patient in a better position than she was in as a result of inferior medical care.'" Shanes v. Kiser, 729 So. 2d 319, 320-21 (Ala. 1999) (quoting Parker, 605 So. 2d at 827) (emphasis added). "It is not necessary to establish that prompt care could have prevented the injury or death of the patient; rather, the plaintiff must produce evidence to show that her condition was adversely affected by the alleged negligence." Parker, 605 So. 2d at 827 (emphasis added). Unless "the cause and effect relationship between the breach of the standard of care and the subsequent complication or injury is so readily understood that a layperson can reliably determine the issue of causation," causation in a medical-malpractice case must be established through expert testimony. Cain v. Howorth, [Ms. 1012339, September 19, 2003] ___ So. 2d ___, ___ (Ala. 2003); see also Bradley v. Miller, [Ms. 1012133, September 26, 2003] ___ So. 2d ___ (Ala. 2003); Rivard v. University of Alabama Health Serv. Found., P.C., 835 So. 2d 987 (Ala. 2002).
The Center contends that Mrs. Duckworth failed to present substantial evidence -- by the requisite expert testimony --that the outcome of this case would have been different had the acts or omissions of which she complains not occurred. We agree.
Mrs. Duckworth's only expert medical testimony on the element of proximate cause was the videotaped deposition of Dr. Jones, who performed the surgery on Mr. Duckworth. His testimony as to proximate cause included the following:
"Q. [Counsel for the Center:] Well, now, given ... the fact that the record does show that you were involved with Mr. Duckworth as early as 3:15 [p.m.], and anesthesia was begun at 4:05 [p.m.], surgery was at 4:40 [p.m.], can you tell us, doctor, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty if the fact that Mr. Duckworth had vomited some time between 12:36 [p.m.] and 12:55 [p.m.] for the first time, and a CT scan was not obtained until around [2:00 p.m.], would that have made any difference in this ultimate outcome?
"A. [Dr. Jones:] I don't think so. I don't think it has impact whatsoever. Mr. Duckworth was taken to the operati
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