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Clark v. Larson1/28/2002
R>
I took the CT scan of the neck and chest as well as the MRI of the neck and reviewed it with Dr. Aughenbaugh. There is some asymmetry of the trachea just below the vocal cords on the MRI. The asymmetry is also present, but there is no clear soft tissue mass in this region to explain the finding. I do not think that endoscopic inspection of this area would be at all informative. He thought the soft tissue lateral to the left carotid artery was insignificant, and the soft tissue in the anterior mediastinum was the innominate vein as well as a normal-appearing thymus. There is no clear cause identified for the vocal cord paralysis on these images, nor is there anything that is suspicious and warrants further imaging at this time. Apparently the plan for her is to simply observe and hope that the idiopathic vocal cord paralysis resolves on its own. (Emphasis added.)
When this report is considered in its entirety, it defeats rather than supports the trial court's conclusion. Even if the report suggests that Dr. Larson misread the CT scan, that fact is not sufficient to trigger the statute because the report clearly indicates Laura sustained no resulting harm. The legal consequence of the undisputed fact emphasized is that the Clarks did not know nor could they have known through the exercise of reasonable diligence that Laura was injured as of February 27, 1997.
The remaining question is whether the summary judgment record supports the trial court's conclusion that the statute of limitations began to run on or before August 2, 1997. Our review of the record indicates Laura's symptoms, including hoarseness and dramatic weight loss, persisted even after receipt of the Mayo reports on February 25 and 27, 1997. When these facts are considered together with the results of the August 2, 1997 CT scan, we conclude they were sufficient to put the Clarks on notice of Laura's February 3, 1997 injury . The legal consequence of these undisputed facts is that the statute of limitations on the Clarks' medical malpractice claim expired before their lawsuit was filed on August 3, 1999. The district court ruling dismissing the Clarks' petition is therefore affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
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