 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
McCulley v. Good Samaritan Hosp.6/5/1998
MARIANNA BROWN BETTMAN, Judge.
Plaintiff-appellant Michael McCulley appeals from the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants-appellees, Good Samaritan Hospital ("the Hospital"), Anesthesia Associates of Cincinnati, Inc., Shari Matvey, M.D., Anthony S. Cionni, M.D., and Terri Becker ("the Anesthesia defendants"), and Thomas Shrimpf, M.D. ("the surgeon"), on McCulley's claims for medical malpractice, negligence, misrepresentation, breach of contract, and fraud. For the reasons that follow, we hold that the claims for negligence, misrepresentation, and breach of contract, despite their captioning as separate counts, sound as a single count in medical malpractice, Hibbett v. Cincinnati, and the grant ossummary judgment is reversed on this single claim for relief as to all defendants, except Dr. Schrimpf. The fraud claim is a separate and independent claim for which summary judgment was properly granted as to all defendants.
On October 21, 1993, McCulley had same-day surgery performed at the Good Samaritan Hospital for removal of a lesion from his throat. The surgery was to be performed under general anesthesia. The preoperative consultation was done by Dr. Shari Matvey. The surgery, which was performed by Dr. Schrimpf, took about twenty-five minutes. Terri Becker, a nurse anesthetist, administered the anesthesia during the procedure. Dr. Matvey was Becker's supervisor for this procedure. In his deposition, McCulley testified that he had tried to tell Becker during the surgery that he was awake, but that he was unable to move or speak.
Immediately after the operation, McCulley told Becker that the anesthesia had not worked, and that he had been awake during the procedure. McCulley remembered that Becker apologized to him. Later an unidentified male anesthesiologist (identified in the medical record as a Dr. Berberich) was sent to explain what had happened, but McCulley did not feel that the man was being honest with him. McCulley was then released from the hospital.
The day after the surgery, Becker telephoned McCulley at home to see how he was and informed him that "they" were checking "the equipment." Several days after that, Dr. Cionni, who identified himself as an anesthesiologist, telephoned McCulley. Although Dr. Cionni suggested to McCulley that McCulley had experienced some kind of operative recall, a, very rare occurrence, McCulley did not believe him.
Within the next week, McCulley had two inconclusive telephone conversations with the Hospital's Risk Management Department and a telephone call in which the attorney for Dr. Cionni offered a meeting, which McCulley declined. McCulley also requested his medical records from the Hospital and personally went to get them several weeks later. He apparently received only a partial set of records on this visit.
On May 17, 1994, McCulley's lawyer wrote a letter ("May 17 letter") to Good Samaritan Hospital, addressed not to any particular individual or department, but only "to whom it may concern." The letter first informed the Hospital that McCulley had been given some type of general anesthetic that failed to put him to sleep, and then requested McCulley's complete medical record and "both the serial numbers, as well as maintenance records of all equipment used on Mr. McCulley pertaining to anesthesia." Apparently, in response to the letter, a complete set of McCulley's hospital records was forwarded to his counsel. Nsserial numbers or equipment maintenance records, however, were included. McCulley's attorney concluded, upon review by his experts of the materials provided, that nothing in the medical records provided the basis fo
Page 1 2 3 4 Ohio Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
By using the system, you agree to TERMS OF SERVICE
|