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Dulaney v. St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center3/21/2002
2002 Opinion No. 37
SUBSTITUTE OPINION THE COURT'S PRIOR OPINION DATED AUGUST 7, 2001, IS HEREBY WITHDRAWN.
Appeal from the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District of the State of Idaho, Ada County. Hon. Ronald J. Wilper, District Judge.
The order of the district court is affirmed.
Plaintiff Anna Dulaney appeals from the district court's grant of summary judgment dismissing her claims for medical malpractice against the defendants. Because she did not lay an adequate foundation for admitting into evidence the testimony of her two expert witnesses, we affirm the order of the district court.
I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
On August 17, 1994, Anna Dulaney, a resident of Washington state, was injured in a fall at her cousin's home in Boise, Idaho. The chair on which Delaney was seated rolled off a pool deck, causing her to fall approximately four feet to the ground. An ambulance transported her to the emergency room of the St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center (St. Alphonsus), where she was treated and released to return to her cousin's home.
Two days later, while walking from her bed to the bathroom in her cousin's home, Dulaney's legs "gave out" and she fell again. Now in excruciating pain, Dulaney was transported by ambulance back to the St. Alphonsus emergency room where Dr. Holland, the emergency room physician, examined her and then asked Dr. Waters, an orthopedic surgeon, to consult on Dulaney's case. After both physicians had examined her and had reviewed the x-rays taken two days earlier, Dulaney was released from the emergency room. Her pain had not subsided and she was unable to walk. She was transported by ambulance back to her cousin's home.
On August 21, 1994, Dulaney was driven by automobile back to Washington and taken immediately to the emergency room at Overlake Medical Center in Bellevue, Washington. She was examined and admitted into the hospital. An MRI scan taken the next day revealed a block in her spine at T7. She was immediately taken to the operating room, but the surgery did not restore function in her lower extremities. She is now a paraplegic.
On February 7, 1997, Dulaney filed this action against the St. Alphonsus and against doctors Gary Holland and Stanley Waters. On January 5, 1998, St. Alphonsus moved for summary judgment contending that its emergency room employees were not negligent and that St. Alphonsus was not liable for the alleged negligence of Drs. Holland and Waters, who were independent contractors. The district court granted summary judgment to St. Alphonsus on the issue of the negligence of its employees. Dulaney has not appealed that grant of summary judgment. The district court denied St. Alphonsus' motion for summary judgment regarding the negligence of the physicians on the ground that St. Alphonsus could not contract away liability for actions taken by physicians practicing in its emergency room.
On June 2, 1999, St. Alphonsus again moved for summary judgment, and on the following day Drs. Holland and Waters each moved for summary judgment. In its motion for summary judgment, St. Alphonsus asked the district court to reconsider its prior ruling that the hospital could be liable for the actions of physicians who were independent contractors. In their motions for summary judgment, Drs. Holland and Waters argued that Dulaney had failed to lay an adequate foundation for the admissibility of the testimony of her two medical experts. They specifically argued that Dulaney had failed to show that her experts were familiar with the local standard of care. Dr. Waters also argued that there was no evidence that his alleged negligence pr
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