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Ricks v. Jefferson Parish Hospital Service District #211/26/2002
AFFIRMED
In this medical malpractice action, after trial, the jury found that the doctor did not breach the applicable standard of care in his medical treatment of plaintiffs' son, Benjamin Ricks. For the following reasons, we affirm.
Facts
On July 20, 1991, Benjamin Ricks, a healthy 16-year-old boy, suffered a gunshot wound to his left chest. He was admitted to East Jefferson General Hospital("EJGH"), where Dr. Stephan Harkness, a general surgeon, performed emergency surgery to repair damage caused by the bullet to Benjamin's stomach and pancreas. Benjamin tolerated the surgery well.
When Benjamin was admitted, numerous tests were performed, including a toxicology screen. Because Benjamin's toxicology screen was positive for alcohol and valium, Dr. Harkness recommended, and Benjamin's parents agreed, that, for the remainder of his in-patient stay, Benjamin should be housed in the Chemical Dependency Unit("CDU") at EJGH. On August 7, 1991, Benjamin's parents removed him from CDU against medical advice.
On August 9, 1991, Benjamin had been complaining of nausea for about 24 hours and experiencing vomiting for about eight hours. When his mother took him to Dr. Harkness' office for a regularly scheduled post-operative examination, Dr. Harkness prescribed medication to help alleviate the nausea and vomiting. At that point, the nausea and vomiting were considered to be symptoms of viral gastritis because another family member had recently experienced a similar "stomach bug." During the office visit, Dr. Harkness advised Janice Ricks that he was going out of town and, if Benjamin's condition worsened, she should call Dr. Ruary O'Connell, who was covering for him while he was away, and take Benjamin to the emergency room at EJGH.
That evening around 6:00 pm, Hugh Ricks called Dr. O'Connell to report that Benjamin was not tolerating the medication prescribed by Dr. Harkness and his condition had worsened. Dr. O'Connell advised the Ricks to take Benjamin to the emergency room at EJGH. Dr. O'Connell, who had previously spoken with Dr. Harkness, was aware that Dr. Harkness had seen Benjamin that morning for a routine post-surgical visit and that Benjamin has complained of nausea, which Dr. Harkness believed was attributable to a virus.
Dr. O'Connell telephoned the emergency room, ordered specific lab tests for Benjamin, asked the surgical resident on duty, Dr. Sobiesk, to evaluate Benjamin and call him back when the test results were ready. Dr. O'Connell also asked for a copy of the hospital record for Benjamin's previous admission. At about 7:10 pm, Benjamin arrived at the emergency room. The lab tests that Dr. O'Connell ordered were performed. Throughout this time, Benjamin continued to vomit so Dr. Sobiesk ordered intravenous fluids for Benjamin to prevent further dehydration.
At about 9:45 pm, Dr. O'Connell arrived at the emergency room. After reviewing the test results and the hospital record from Benjamin's previous admission, Dr. O'Connell found that the results were within normal limits except that Benjamin had a temperature of 99E, which is not unusual for a post-operative patient, and a mildly elevated white blood count, which is not uncommon for a person with a "stomach bug." In fact, Benjamin's blood tests indicated that the measure of his red blood cells, or hematocrit, was 41.9, which was 6 points higher than the last hematocrit level recorded during his previous hospital admission. Further, when Dr. O'Connell and Dr. Sobiesk physically examined the patient, their examination did not reveal any abnormalities. Benjamin, however, had not responded to the medication prescribed by Dr. Harkness and he needed in
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