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Reaves v. Bergsrud5/5/1999
{1} Plaintiff filed a medical malpractice action against Defendant. After a trial by jury, Defendant was exonerated of any negligent action. On appeal, Plaintiff asserts that the trial court erred in (1) denying Plaintiff's motion to compel discovery regarding Defendant's mental health, and (2) denying her pretrial motion for leave to name a pathologist as an expert witness. We disagree and affirm the decisions of the trial court.
FACTS
A. Complaint
{2} On July 12, 1994, Plaintiff consulted with Defendant regarding an unidentified mass in her hand. After examining her, Defendant recommended exploratory surgery. On July 15, 1994, Defendant performed the surgery on an outpatient basis. The identity of the mass in Plaintiff's hand was in dispute. The Lea County Hospital pathologist thought the mass to be a benign neurofibroma, another pathologist in Dallas, identified the mass as a plexiform neurofibroma, and yet another pathologist, at University of New Mexico Hospital, identified the mass as an intraneural fibrolimpoma.
{3} After the surgery, Plaintiff began to complain of numbness in her thumb and several of her fingers, significant pain, and electrical shock sensations. In her complaint, Plaintiff asserted that these problems she was experiencing were a result of Defendant severing her median nerve during surgery and that he severed her nerve because his "standard of conduct was below the reasonable standard of care." Plaintiff alleged that as a proximate result of Defendant's alleged negligence, she has sustained "pain, suffering, disability, mental anguish, past and future medical expenses, loss of wages, and other general damages[.]" Plaintiff also asserted that Defendant was negligent in his diagnosis and postoperative care of her. Defendant answered Plaintiff's complaint and denied all allegations.
B. Motion to Compel
{4} During discovery, Plaintiff learned that Defendant had been diagnosed as having a mental impairment. Plaintiff learned that the state of Florida had suspended Defendant's medical license in the summer of 1988 because he was suffering from bipolar disorder and had inappropriately quit his psychiatric care and medication. He was subsequently reinstated in the fall of 1988. Plaintiff also learned that in 1993, the states of New Mexico and California granted Defendant medical licenses on the condition that he continue to receive psychological treatment and take his medication. On May 20, 1994, the New Mexico Board of Medical Examiners lifted the condition on Defendant's medical license.
{5} On November 8, 1996, Plaintiff propounded interrogatories to Defendant asking: "When did you first come under the treatment of Ronald Monteverde, M.D. for treatment of your bi-polar mood disorder?" and "Please identify by date and treatment given each visit you had with Dr. Monteverde from July 1993 through July 1994." Defendant objected, raising the physician-patient privilege and asserting that the information requested was irrelevant and was not calculated to lead to the discovery of any admissible evidence.
{6} During a deposition on March 24, 1997, Defendant stated that he was taking lithium, had been taking lithium in 1994, and had been seeing a psychiatrist every two to three months in 1994. When Defendant was asked whether he was still under medical treatment, his attorney objected that the relevant time period was 1994 and instructed Defendant not to answer. Defendant also refused to answer questions about a hearing scheduled in January 1997 concerning hospital privileges at Lea General Hospital and about the voluntary withdrawal of his privileges there. Plaintiff sought an order compel
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