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Mobile Infirmary Mudical Center v. Hodgen10/31/2003
y deadly drug and that it was important to administer the drug in the correct dosage. She further stated that she knew that Byrd was not a licensed nurse when she administered the digoxin. Espiritu admitted that she had no idea whether Byrd had had any previous experience in administering digoxin and that she made no attempt to find out. However, despite her awareness of the danger of the drug and her awareness of Byrd's inexperience in nursing, Espiritu told Byrd to obtain digoxin from the stock of medicine kept "on the floor" and to administer it to Hodgen. Espiritu made no attempt to ascertain Byrd's experience in administering the drug and she made no attempt to supervise Byrd's actions in obtaining and administering the drug. In fact, while Byrd was in Hodgen's room administering the digoxin, Espiritu was in another room.
Byrd testified that she knew that digoxin had the potential to completely stop a patient's heart and that she understood the importance of administering it in the correct dosage. She admitted that she did not know the correct dosage of digoxin for a patient and that she had never before administered the drug. She also stated that she found making the telephone calls to doctors to advise them of the status of their patients and to receive orders difficult. However, despite Byrd's awareness of the dangers of digoxin, despite her knowledge of her own inexperience in administering it, and despite the difficulty she had telephoning reports to doctors and taking their orders over the telephone, she made no attempt to verify the prescription with the doctor; she chose to access what she thought was the appropriate amount of digoxin on her own from the stock kept on the floor; and she chose to administer the drug to Hodgen without any supervision, all in reckless disregard of the dangers her actions presented to Hodgen.
The evidence shows that Espiritu and Byrd were aware of the potential danger of their actions -- they both knew digoxin was a potentially deadly drug if given in too strong a dose -- and yet they acted recklessly in disregard of the dangers to Hodgen's health. Hodgen has produced clear and convincing evidence from which the jury could have concluded that Mobile Infirmary acted recklessly and in a conscious disregard for his safety in administering the digoxin. Because Hodgen has presented clear and convincing evidence from which the jury could conclude that Mobile Infirmary acted wantonly in administering the digoxin to him, it is unnecessary to address Hodgen's claim that it was wanton in its training and supervision of Espiritu and Byrd.
III.
Mobile Infirmary argues that the trial court should have declared a mistrial after it made an allegedly prejudicial remark to a potential juror. During voir dire, the following exchange took place:
"The Court: .... Does anybody else know anybody or have you done business with any of the people on [Mobile Infirmary's] side or are you related by blood or marriage to any one of the people whose names have been called out and identified by the Defense? Yes, sir. Who are you?
"Prospective Juror: .... The company I work for does business with Mobile Infirmary.
"The Court: Okay.... Now -- and that's an important client, I assume.
"Prospective Juror: Absolutely.
"The Court: You understand that if you're on a jury that ruled against them, they might find out about it and take your business away from you? Do you understand that?
"Prospective Juror: It could happen but I doubt it seriously.
"The Court: So you think you can be fair and impartial?
"Prospective Juror: Yes, sir.
"Th
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