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Hall v. Dominican Sisters of Spokane3/23/2000
March 23, 2000
Ronald and Kathy Hall appeal a judgment entered in favor of Dominican Sisters of Spokane, a/k/a Dominican Health Services, d/b/a Holy Family Hospital (Hospital) as well as the court's denial of their motion for a new trial. The Halls filed a negligence lawsuit against the Hospital as the result of the alleged subpar care Mr. Hall received in December 1992 when he was brought to the Hospital's emergency room and later admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). We affirm.
Mr. Hall was diagnosed with renal cancer in December 1992. As a result, his left kidney was removed at Sacred Heart Medical Center (SHMC) by Dr. C. Frederick Hollon, a urologist. A few days after his release from SHMC, Mr. Hall was seen in the emergency room of Holy Family Hospital complaining of shortness of breath and pain in his upper chest.
Dr. Peter Nelson was the emergency room physician on call on December 22, 1992, when Mr. Hall arrived at the Hospital. After learning of Mr. Hall's recent surgery at SHMC, Dr. Nelson's initial diagnosis was that Mr. Hall was suffering from a pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot in the lungs, a potentially lethal medical condition. Because his medical condition was critical, Dr. Nelson referred Mr. Hall's care to Dr. LeRoy Byrd, an experienced internist at the Hospital.
Dr. Byrd also suspected a pulmonary embolism or some type of infection and took steps to dissolve the blood clot with heparin and started Mr. Hall on an antibiotic to fight any potential infection. Diagnostic tests completed a short time later ruled out the diagnoses of pulmonary embolism, infection and/or myocardial infarction. Because his physician did not know with medical certainty what the diagnosis was, Mr. Hall was admitted to the Hospital's ICU. Dr. Byrd wrote out a list of 17 orders relating to Mr. Hall's care that were to be carried out by the Hospital staff.
The parties dispute the meaning of Dr. Byrd's instruction 14. The Halls maintain it was a direct order to the Hospital nursing staff to immediately contact Dr. Hollon, who had performed the kidney surgery the prior week. However, in his testimony at trial, Dr. Byrd explained that the order was meant as a courtesy note to inform Dr. Hollon that his former surgical patient was now in the ICU at the Hospital. Dr. Byrd clarified that there was no need to immediately contact Dr. Hollon because Dr. Hollon did not treat pulmonary embolism, which was the working diagnosis at the time the orders were written. Although no one contacted Dr. Hollon directly, his paging light was lit in the physician's lounge at the Hospital. This served to notify him that he had a Hospital message waiting.
Dr. Byrd followed Mr. Hall's progress all day on December 22, 1992. He did an examination of Mr. Hall at about 9:30 p.m., just before he left for the evening. At that time Mr. Hall was breathing easier, was more comfortable, his vital signs were more stable and his urine output was good. Dr. Byrd also did an examination of Mr. Hall's abdomen and found it normal. However, because of an abnormal result from a test that measures kidney function, Dr. Byrd ordered a CAT scan to be done the following morning. He said that there was concern that Mr. Hall might have an intra-abdominal abscess that had not been noted in the ultrasound test that had been performed earlier in the day. Dr. Byrd testified that the ultrasound did not reveal any abnormality in Mr. Hall's spleen. Dr. Byrd went off call at 7:00 a.m. the next morning and did not see Mr. Hall again until the day prior to his discharge.
Dr. Hollon learned of Mr. Hall's admission to the Hospital's ICU the next day, December 23. His examinati
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