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Harding v. Bell11/5/2002
This appeal concerns a medical malpractice action. Harding, the appellant/patient, asserts that the trial court exceeded its discretion in not excusing three prospective jurors for cause. In addition, she claims that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's conclusion that she was comparatively negligent. We affirm for two reasons. First, the trial court's failure to excuse the three prospective jurors did not prejudice Harding because she received an impartial jury. Second, Harding's insufficiency argument fails because she did not marshal all of the evidence arguably supporting the jury's conclusion and there was sufficient evidence to sustain the jury's finding.
BACKGROUND
When reviewing a jury verdict, we view "the evidence and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in light most favorable to the verdict." State v. Kruger, 2000 UT 60, 2, 6 P.3d 1116. We recite the facts accordingly.
On or around January 4, 1997, Geraldine Kay Harding experienced severe chest pain, left-arm numbness, sweating, and dizziness while at a gas station located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Except for the numbness in her left arm, which persisted for about an hour, all of the symptoms abated within approximately thirty minutes. Harding subsequently talked with her mother and her best friend, both of whom advised her to consult a physician.
On or about January 6, 1997, Harding called Dr. Carl Bell and scheduled an appointment for January 13, 1997. At this appointment, Harding informed Dr. Bell of the symptoms that she had experienced on January 4, 1997. Dr. Bell then had a member of his staff administer an EKG. He also ordered two blood tests. These blood tests came back negative, and Dr. Bell interpreted the results of the EKG as "normal." An internal medicine specialist, Dr. Von Welch, later confirmed Dr. Bell's assessment of the EKG results.
On January 22, 1997, Dr. Bell administered an exercise treadmill test ("ETT"), and informed Harding that the results appeared "normal." A second physician, Dr. Marlan Hansen, then examined the ETT results and concluded that they were abnormal. Dr. Hansen did not recommend any subsequent testing or emergency medical treatment.
Once Dr. Bell learned of Dr. Hansen's conclusion, Dr. Bell referred Harding to Dr. Ronald Asay, a cardiologist. Dr. Bell notified Harding that she had an appointment with Dr. Asay by having a member of his staff leave a message on her answering machine. Harding received this message the afternoon of January 23 or 24.
The message stated that Dr. Bell had found something and that an appointment had been scheduled with Dr. Asay for February 5, 1997. It also explained what Dr. Bell had discovered, although Harding did not understand the "big" words. It did not inform Harding that she should avoid strenuous activity, take any medication, or be concerned.
Despite the fact that the message did not tell her to call back, Harding telephoned Dr. Bell's office and spoke with a member of his staff. She asked this staff member if anything was wrong and was told that the ETT results had been interpreted as "abnormal." She did not obtain any other information.
On January 24 and 25 of 1997, Harding experienced "recurrent mild chest pain with exertion." On January 25, 1997, she had "an episode of malaise and tiredness and experienced severe . . . chest discomfort." Harding did not seek medical treatment for these symptoms.
On January 26, 1997, Harding experienced extreme chest pain while attempting to clean horse stalls. She was then rushed to the hospital by her husband and diagnosed as having suffered a probable heart a
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