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Ekornes-Duncan v. Rankin Medical Center2/28/2002
DATE OF JUDGMENT: 9/26/2000
TRIAL JUDGE: HON. JOHN T. KITCHENS COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: RANKIN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - WRONGFUL DEATH
DISPOSITION: AFFIRMED - 2/28/2002
. Martha K. Ekornes-Duncan ("Duncan") brought a wrongful death action in the Circuit Court of Rankin County against several defendants, including Rankin Medical Center ("RMC") and Dr. Stephen Chouteau ("Dr. Chouteau"), alleging medical negligence in the treatment of her son Timothy Smith ("Smith"). RMC was granted summary judgment as to the independent nursing negligence claim, and the trial concluded with a jury verdict in favor of Dr. Chouteau and RMC vicariously. Duncan then appealed to this Court.
. Duncan alleges the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to RMC. She also finds error with the trial court's decisions to deny her motions for continuance, prohibit introduction of demonstrative evidence, allow the introduction of undisclosed business records, limit cross-examination of a medical expert and permit improper closing arguments. We find Duncan committed violations of Mississippi discovery rules and more importantly, that no negligence on the part of the hospital was shown. We also find no reversible error in the trial below. Thus, we affirm the grant of summary judgment to RMC and affirm the judgment entered on the jury verdict in favor of Dr. Chouteau and RMC vicariously.
FACTS
. Smith was involved in an automobile accident on December 30, 1995, in which he sustained serious injuries. Paramedics removed Smith from his vehicle, treated him at the scene, and placed him in an ambulance. He arrived at RMC's emergency room at 11:20 p.m. RMC staff, Dr. Chouteau, the physician on duty, and Dr. Jeffrey Henry Glover, the surgeon on call, treated Smith.
. At approximately 2:40 a.m., Smith's blood pressure dropped severely, and his condition deteriorated quickly. Dr. Chouteau and Nurse Perry Tillman began CPR, and Dr. Glover was called to the hospital. Dr. Chouteau testified that Smith's aorta was probably injured in the accident and ruptured at 2:40 a.m. Once Smith was stabilized by the doctors and staff of RMC, he was taken to ICU at approximately 5:00 a.m. The doctors and nurses were unable to save Smith, and he died at approximately 11:10 a.m. as a result of the ruptured aorta.
DISCUSSION
I. WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN GRANTING THE SECOND MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
. In granting the second motion for summary judgment, the trial court found that Duncan did not have a qualified medical expert to testify as to the standard of care owed by RMC. It was not until July 2000, when Duncan supplemented discovery requests, that it became apparent that Duncan did not have a medical expert to support her claim against RMC. Duncan produced a December 1, 1997, letter from Dr. Barbara J. Abrams to Duncan's attorney which stated an opinion against Dr. Chouteau only and not against RMC, although the testimony was artfully drawn in an affidavit to get by the first summary judgment.
. By her own admission, Dr. Abrams was not a suitable expert to testify as to independent nursing negligence on the part of RMC. She averred in her December 1, 1997, letter that " omments regarding the negligence of the hospital itself and the Pearl Police Department would not be within my area of expertise. . . Thus, I can not (sic) attribute any specific acts of negligence on the part of the hospital itself." She stated in a subsequent clarification letter, "I am not stating that the hospital is not negligent. What I am stating is that as an expert in Emergency Medicine,
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