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Hutchings v. Methodist Hospital Of McKenzie6/2/2000
This is a medical malpractice case in which the plaintiff filed two identical actions only days apart in Shelby County and Carroll County against the same defendants. The plaintiff non-suited and then re-filed the Carroll County action. Amended complaints were filed in both actions seeking to add a defendant. The plaintiff then asked the Shelby County trial court to transfer the action pending in Shelby County to Carroll County for consolidation. The defendant who was added argued that the Shelby County trial court should dismiss the case for improper venue and that the Carroll County trial court should grant his motion for summary judgment based on the statute of limitations. The Shelby County trial court granted the plaintiff's motion to transfer to Carroll County and the Carroll County trial court denied the defendant's motion for summary judgment. The added defendant appealed. We reverse the Carroll County trial court's denial of summary judgment and its acceptance of the Shelby County case for consolidation and remand to the Carroll County trial court to determine whether the Shelby County amended complaint was intended to supplement the original complaint or to completely replace it, and whether a named Shelby County defendant was still a defendant in the Shelby County suit when the amended complaint was filed, in order to ascertain if venue was proper as to the added defendant.
Tenn. R. App. P. 9; Judgment of the Circuit Court is Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part, and Remanded.
Holly Kirby Lillard, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which W. Frank Crawford, P.J., W.S., and David R. Farmer, J., joined.
OPINION
On September 25, 1994, Plaintiff/Appellee John Hutchings ("Hutchings"), a Weakley County resident, was treated in the emergency room at Defendant/Appellee Methodist Hospital of McKenzie ("Methodist- McKenzie") in Carroll County, Tennessee, for pain and weakness in his right leg. Defendant/Appellee Dr. John Freeman ("Dr. Freeman"), a Crockett County resident, examined Hutchings at Methodist-McKenzie and determined that he suffered from vascular insufficiency in his right leg. Dr. Freeman advised Hutchings to go home and schedule an appointment the following day with his family physician, Defendant/Appellant Dr. Sidney Ray ("Dr. Ray"), a Carroll County resident.
Hutchings was examined by Dr. Ray the following day. Dr. Ray concluded that Hutchings had a blockage of his femoral artery. He recommended that Hutchings see a specialist in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Ray's office told Hutchings to return home and wait while they made arrangements for an evaluation by the specialist. Two days later, Dr. Ray's office contacted Hutchings and told him to go immediately to Methodist Hospital of Memphis ("Methodist-Memphis"), in Shelby County, Tennessee, to be evaluated by a specialist. Hutchings was subsequently admitted to the emergency room at Methodist-Memphis. On October 3, 1994, his right leg was amputated at Methodist-Memphis.
On September 22, 1995, Hutchings filed a medical malpractice action in Shelby County against Methodist-McKenzie, Methodist-Memphis, Dr. Freeman, Dr. Charles Kanos, Dr. E. J. Chauvin, Dr. Jerry Gooch, Dr. Alan Hammond, and Dr. Martin Croce. Three days later, Hutchings filed an identical action against the same defendants in Carroll County. In both complaints, Hutchings alleged that the defendants' failure to fully examine him, to recognize the seriousness of his condition, to refer him to another physician more competent to diagnose his condition, and to provide appropriate medical treatment was the proximate cause of the amputation of his leg. Dr. Ray was not named as a defendant in either the Shelby County
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