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Pierce v. State6/16/1998
FROM THE TENNESSEE CLAIMS COMMISSION THE HONORABLE MARTHA B. BRASFIELD, COMMISSIONER
Tennessee Claims Commission No. 96-015
AFFIRMED
This is a medical malpractice case tried by the Tennessee Claims Commission. Claimant Barbara Pierce (Pierce) appeals from the judgment of the Claims Commission for defendant, State of Tennessee. Pierce filed this complaint alleging that while a patient at the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee, she had surgery for removal of her appendix. She avers that she was under the care and treatment of Dr. Kenna Williams and Dr. Robert Howell, medical residents and employees of the State of Tennessee through the University of Tennessee School of Medicine. She basically alleges that the defendant, University of Tennessee, through its employees, breached the recognized standard of acceptable professional practice in its medical treatment thus resulting in a severe infection that necessitated further hospitalization, expense, pain, and suffering.
The Commissioner's excellent order provides a thorough statement of the facts as developed from the testimony, and we quote those pertinent parts of the order:
At approximately 3 p.m. on May 16, 1988, the claimant, a 41-year-old woman, presented herself in the emergency room of the Regional Medical Center, complaining of pain in the lower right section of her abdomen, accompanied by nausea, vomiting and a fever of approximately 101 F. her white blood cell count at 19,800. She was diagnosed with appendicitis, and at approximately 10 p.m., an appendectomy was performed by Dr. Robert Howell, a medical resident and an employee of the State of Tennessee thorough the University of Tennessee Memphis Health Science Center (UT). Immediately prior to surgery, the claimant was given intravenous antibiotics, Gentamycin and Clindomycin. In surgery, the claimant's obesity (her weight was approximately 275-280 pounds) necessitated a generous incision to expose her appendix. Dr. Howell reported seeing no gross pus or blood around the appendix. The appendix, itself, appeared red and swollen, but showed no evidence of gangrene or perforation. Both the appendix and a swab of the fluid surrounding the appendix were sent to the laboratory for analysis. The incision was irrigated and closed, and the claimant was sent to the recovery room and then, during the early hours of May 17, 1988, transferred to her hospital room.
Initial laboratory reports received by the physicians on May 18, 1988, indicated no active bacteria in the fluid specimen. The microscopic examination of the appendix and the culture of the fluid specimen took several days to complete.
Throughout her hospital recuperation, the claimant was examined and/or treated by various physicians and medical students from UT. The claimant was primarily treated by Dr. Keena Williams, a medical resident who first saw the claimant on May 17, 1988, and continued to provide care to her until she was discharged from the hospital on May 20, 1988. The claimant was also examined daily by Bryan L. Woods, who was a third-year medical student at UT.
Following her surgery, the claimant experienced fever which peaked near 103.5ø at 6 p.m. on May 17, 1988 but declined to 99.4ø by the time of her discharge from the hospital on May 20, 1988. Among tests administered during this period were a chest x-ray, a urinalysis, a vaginal smear, and several blood tests, the results of which were normal. By the date of her discharge from the hospital, her white blood cell count had fallen to approximately 8,000, a range which is somewhat high but which is generally considered to be within the normal range limits.
Durin
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