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Price v. Blood Bank of Delaware2/14/2002
Submitted: November 27, 2001
Appeal from Superior Court. REVERSED and REMANDED.
In this appeal from the Superior Court, we address the standards which govern a trial judge's questioning of an expert witness before a jury. The appellant contends that the trial judge's obvious hostility to the witness and the subsequent exclusion, in part, of the expert's testimony prejudiced the standing of the expert in the estimation of the jury. We agree and accordingly reverse and remand for a new trial.
I.
This litigation arose from the death of Nathaniel Price, ("Price"), who contracted the HIV virus following a blood transfusion on October 5, 1984 during treatment for acute anemia. The blood in question had been collected and distributed by the Blood Bank of Delaware, Inc. ("Blood Bank"). It is not disputed that the blood administered to Price was contaminated and Price's estate and next of kin filed suit against Blood Bank alleging negligence in the screening and testing of blood donors. Blood Bank contends that it conformed to the screening standards then in effect and breached no duty to Price.
Blood Bank had earlier moved for summary judgment on several grounds, including that it was a health care provider subject to the requirement that expert medical testimony was required to establish its liability. The Superior Court ruled to the contrary and this Court affirmed that ruling. Blood Bank of Delaware, Inc. v. Jessie R. Price, et al., Del. Supr., No. 133, 1999, Walsh, J. (Feb. 28, 2000) (ORDER). In our order affirming the denial of summary judgment, we noted our disagreement with the Superior Court's observation that the Blood Bank's conduct could be determined by a reasonable person "through the exercise of his or her common sense." Id. at 5. Subsequently, at the trial of this matter, both sides presented expert testimony directed to whether Blood Bank properly screened donors for the presence of the HIV virus in 1984. Price contends that in this clash of experts, the trial judge displayed an obvious hostility to his expert that damaged the expert's opinion, in so far as his opinion was permitted to go to the jury. Price also assigns as error the trial court's refusal to instruct the jury that departure from a Food and Drug Administration regulation constituted negligence per se.
Blood Bank has cross-appealed from the trial court's ruling permitting any portion of Price's expert's opinion testimony to be considered by the jury because it lacked a proper foundation. Additionally, Blood Bank cross-appeals from the trial court's refusal to grant it judgment as a matter of law, on the claim asserted by certain of the decedent's children for their failure to appear at trial and present evidence of their damages arising from Price's alleged wrongful death.
II.
The underlying facts giving rise to this litigation are not in serious dispute. Price suffered from acute anemia and was admitted to a local hospital. His physician ordered a blood transfusion, which occurred on October 5, 1984. The transferred blood was collected and distributed by Blood Bank, who had secured the blood from a donor in Dover, Delaware.
It is not disputed that the blood contained the HIV virus, which eventually caused Price's death. The principal issue to be determined at trial was whether the Blood Bank, at the time it collected the blood, had adopted adequate procedures for screening potential donors in light of the scientific knowledge then available for determining the risk of HIV contamination in blood donation. Blood Bank contends that, given the state of knowledge of the risk of transmitting the HIV virus through blood transfus
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