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Medical Review Panel for the Claim of Abbott v. Louisiana State University Medical Center-Shreveport2/27/2002
In this medical malpractice case, the trial court granted the exception of prescription filed by the defendant, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport ("LSU Health Sciences Center"), formerly known as Louisiana State University Medical Center- Shreveport. For the following reasons, we affirm.
FACTS
In early 1996, Tammy Joyce Abbott, a licensed practical nurse, went to see Dr. Wendy Bean to confirm that she was pregnant. Dr. Bean confirmed the pregnancy and also advised Ms. Abbott that she had detected a bruit, an abnormal sound heard through a stethoscope usually caused by an abnormal flow of blood in the heart or a blood vessel. Dr. Bean referred Ms. Abbott to Dr. Jones in DeRidder, Louisiana, who then referred her to a specialist at the LSU Medical Center. The specialist treated Ms. Abbott with various blood pressure medications, all apparently without success. During this treatment by the LSU Health Sciences Center specialist, Ms. Abbott suspected that she had a condition which her doctors had failed to diagnose. She and her friend Sarah Trainer, a registered nurse, did their own research in medical textbooks and arrived at the conclusion that Ms. Abbott had renal artery stenosis, a condition not previously diagnosed by her doctors.
In September 1996, Ms. Abbott was admitted to the LSU Medical Center in an attempt to get her blood pressure under control. During this hospitalization, she gave birth to Noel Alexander Shorts by cesarean section on September 15, 1996. The birth was approximately two months premature. Consequently, Noel suffered from various postnatal complications and continues to have various related health problems. He was not released from the hospital until January of 1997.
Ms. Abbott also continued to suffer from high blood pressure after her release from the hospital in September 1996. After consulting with another specialist in October 1996, he determined that she had renal artery stenosis which would require surgery to correct. Ms. Abbott had the corrective surgery in April 1997.
She first consulted with an attorney in January 1997 regarding the possibility of filing the present claim. On February 10, 1998, Ms. Abbott filed a medical malpractice claim on her behalf and on behalf of her son, Noel Alexander Shorts, against the LSU Health Sciences Center for failing to diagnose the kidney blockage, for failing to use available technology to diagnose the blockage, for failing to care for Ms. Abbott as a high risk pregnancy, and for failing to exercise the standard of medical care which was reasonable under the circumstances. After taking Ms. Abbott's deposition, LSU Health Sciences Center filed an Exception of Prescription.
The testimony from Ms. Abbott's deposition, which is dispositive of the issue before this court, pertained to the diagnosis made by Dr. Deliauga in October 1996, more than 15 months prior to the filing of her petition. She testified on two separate occasions to this fact, and her testimony was unequivocal. Initially she referred to the October diagnosis under examination by defendant's attorney, Jerald L. Perlman:
Mr. Perlman: And between that point in time and April of `97, did you miss any appreciable time from work?
Ms. Abbott: No, because I was going to see Dr. Deliauga.
Mr. Perlman: Okay.
Ms. Abbott: And he was treating me for my blood pressure. And he did an x-ray and found out it was my kidneys, but he would not do the surgery because I didn't have insurance.
Mr. Perlman: So you were hospitalized to have your delivery in September of `96 and then you had your surgery on your kidneys in April of `9
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