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Perry v. Magic Valley Regional Medical Center2/28/2000
Twin Falls, November 1999 Term
2000 Opinion No. 13
Appeal from the District Court of the Fifth Judicial District of the State of Idaho, Twin Falls County. Hon. Daniel B. Meehl, District Judge.
The judgment of the district court is affirmed in part and remanded in part.
Magic Valley Regional Medical Center (Hospital) appealed from the judgment in a medical malpractice case. The jury awarded plaintiff Pauline Collins Perry $1,550,000 in economic damages and $150,000 in non-economic damages for injuries to the sciatic nerve sustained from an injection that Hospital personnel administered in the gluteal area. We affirm and remand in part.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Pauline Collins (now Pauline Collins Perry) (Perry) walked into the Hospital's emergency room on June 4, 1994 for treatment of an infected cut on her small toe. Because Perry had received no previous immunizations against tetanus, the emergency room physician ordered treatment with two tetanus shots, "DT" and "Hyper-Tet."
Hyper-Tet is administered to patients who have incomplete immunizations and are at risk of contracting tetanus. When it is administered in conjunction with a DT injection, Hyper-Tet is administered as an intramuscular injection in the gluteal region. The manufacturer and standard medical texts caution against injecting in the central gluteal region because of the risk of injuring the sciatic nerve. The approved injection region is on the upper, outer quadrant of the hip.
Nurse Teresa Phillips administered the injections. In Hospital records, Phillips charted the Hyper-Tet injection as administered appropriately in the hip area. Perry claimed, however, that Phillips actually administered the injections in the middle of the right buttock. Pamela Babb, Perry's sister who had accompanied her to the emergency room, also testified that Phillips administered the injection in the buttock. Perry testified that she felt immediate, debilitating pain after the injection. She hopped out of the emergency room, assisted by Babb. Unable to obtain crutches from the hospital, Perry bought crutches within a few hours after the injection and used them for several days.
Perry visited the Hospital emergency room two weeks later for pain in her right leg. The physician prescribed codeine, amitriptyline, and large doses of ibuprofen. When the pain persisted and worsened in the following week, Perry visited a neurologist. She described a persistent pain in the right buttock and back of the leg and difficulty in walking, driving, and sitting. Perry acknowledged a history of chronic intermittent lower back pain but told the neurologist that she had no recent injury or exacerbation of that pain. The neurologist diagnosed right sciatica as a result of the Hyper-Tet injection. The neurologist prescribed stretches and more powerful painkillers and recommended an MRI and an epidural injection if Perry's pain symptoms persisted.
In the months and years that followed, Perry continued to experience extreme pain. She visited a long succession of doctors and hospitals attempting to obtain relief. By the beginning of 1998, she had visited doctors fifty-six times, had six operations, and had incurred $119,000 in medical expenses. She took Percocet, a powerful painkiller. An electrical device was implanted in her abdomen to control pain.
In 1995, Perry and her then-husband Steven Collins filed a complaint against the Hospital and the emergency room physician. They presented three claims: negligence, lack of informed consent, and loss of consortium. The physician moved for summary judgment, which was granted in September 199
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