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Taylor v. Interim Healthcare of Raleigh-Durham12/3/2002
PUBLISHED
Plaintiff Larry Taylor, as administrator of the estate of William Taylor, Jr., ("decedent") appeals the entry of an order and final judgment granting the motion of defendant Interim Healthcare of RaleighDurham, Inc., for a directed verdict at the close of plaintiff's evidence on grounds plaintiff had failed to produce sufficient evidence of proximate cause between defendant's alleged breach of duty and decedent's subsequent death. We reverse the entry of directed verdict and remand for a new trial.
The facts pertinent to the appeal are as follows: Decedent suffered from peripheral vascular disease. At all relevant times, decedent was being treated for complications from the disease by surgeons Joseph Mulcahy and Cynthia Robinson. Throughout the mid to late 1990's, Drs. Mulcahy and Robinson performed various surgeries on the vascular structures in decedent's left leg, including a 1995 surgery to graft the femoral artery of the right leg to the femoral artery of the left leg to improve circulation in the left leg. On 11 July 1997, Drs. Mulcahy and Robinson operated on decedent's left leg to de-clot a saphenous vein graft and remove dead tissue from around the graft. The incision was closed with blue sutures, and decedent's thigh muscle was mobilized in order to cover the graft. The surgery left decedent with two large wounds on his left thigh.
Decedent was discharged from the hospital on 17 July 1997. Defendant was engaged to provide decedent with home nursing care beginning 17 July, including twice-daily dressing changes to the two wounds on decedent's left thigh. On the afternoon of 19 July, Corrine Taylor-Allen, a nurse employed by defendant, observed during a routine visit to decedent's home that decedent had an area of swelling below the knee on his left leg. Taylor-Allen contacted Dr. Mulcahy, who advised that decedent be brought to the emergency room immediately. Decedent presented to the emergency room where Dr. Mulcahy performed a final surgery on his left leg wherein the bridge of skin between the existing wounds was cut, leaving only one wound. Dr. Mulcahy discharged decedent from the hospital that evening.
On the morning of 20 July, Taylor-Allen again visited decedent's home. She noted the two prior wounds were now one larger wound, and that there appeared to be a large amount of drainage in the wound. Taylor-Allen also noted that she saw what she believed to be a tendon visible in the wound bed. Taylor-Allen did not contact Drs. Mulcahy or Robinson to report the drainage or visible tendon. Taylor-Allen returned to decedent's home late in the afternoon of 20 July. She recorded that what she had believed to be a tendon that morning was actually the femoral artery, and that the blue sutures used to close decedent's saphenous vein graft following surgery were now visible. Taylor-Allen did not contact her supervisors or decedent's doctors about the visible femoral artery and sutures, nor did she alert decedent that he should go to the hospital or contact his doctors.
In the early morning of 21 July 1997, decedent awoke his sons to alert them that he needed to be transported to the emergency room. Decedent's sons observed "squirts of blood" coming from decedent's left leg, decedent's bed sheets were completely soaked with blood, and there was a pool of blood one inch deep beside decedent's bed. Decedent's son Ricky testified that when he came to his father's aid, decedent stated twice that " he nurse said it might burst." Decedent arrived via ambulance at the hospital shortly after 2:00 a.m. and died minutes thereafter. The cause of death was determined to be a hemorrhage due to a breakdown of the wound from the vascular surgery. Dr. Mulc
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