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GILES v. SPARKMAN RES. CARE H.12/15/1999
On May 1, 1995, Rosie Anderson wandered away from the Sparkman Residential Care Home and was never seen alive or heard from again. On March 4, 1997, a dog brought a skull to its owner's residence that was located within a two-mile radius of the residential care facility. The skull was identified as the remains of Ms. Anderson; various bones were later discovered as well. Given the paucity of evidence, the state crime lab was unable to determine the cause of death, although it was reported that her skull had not been fractured. In this wrongful-death action against various health-care providers, it was the appellant's theory that Ms. Anderson had met her death after suffering a seizure caused by not receiving proper medication. At trial the court directed a verdict in the appellees' favor on the basis that appellant had failed to prove proximate cause because the cause of death was unknown, making it equally plausible that Ms. Anderson had expired due to natural causes or at the hand of some other third person.
On appeal, appellant contends that the trial court erred in directing a verdict and that he was entitled to recover on the lost-chance theory. We find merit in the first issue, and we reverse and remand for a new trial.
Rosie Anderson, who was age forty-nine at the time of her disappearance, was mentally ill. Her principal diagnosis was schizophrenia, but she had also been a psychogenic water drinker. She also suffered from a seizure disorder that made her subject to grand mal seizures. These conditions were regulated by a regimen of medication. There was testimony that there were times when she would do reasonably well, followed by periods of deterioration that would occur when she stopped taking her medication. Consequently, she required supervision, and over the course of her adult life she had either been in the state mental hospital, nursing homes, or in the care of her family. There was some evidence indicating that she had a tendency to wander.
On March 30, 1995, Ms. Anderson was transferred from a nursing home to the appellee Hot Spring County Medical Center for psychiatric admission because she had become violent and
uncooperative. There she came under the care of appellee, Dr. Raymond Remmel. After her condition had become stabilized, Ms. Anderson was released to the home of her sister on April 12. While there she became uncooperative and agitated and would disappear for periods of time. Her sister could not tell whether she was taking her medication, and she returned Ms. Anderson to the appellee hospital on April 19. After being stabilized, on Thursday, April 27, she was transferred to the appellee Sparkman Residential Care Home, a nonrestrictive facility that may dispense but is not authorized to administer or supervise the taking of medication. Records indicate that the day Ms. Anderson arrived she did not receive her evening or night dosages of medication but that she was offered medication the next morning. That morning, however, she suffered two seizures and was taken to the appellee hospital for treatment. She was returned to Sparkman that afternoon, and she remained confused, tired, and unable to participate in activities that weekend. Records show that her medication was dispensed on Saturday and Sunday. She disappeared sometime early Monday morning.
On the issue of proximate causation, appellant presented the testimony of psychiatrist Dr. Robert Gale. It was his opinion that Ms. Anderson could not have survived without her medication. Dr. Gale testified that, without question, Ms. Anderson would have had a seizure within thirty-six to forty-eight hours after her disappearance, based on a pattern that had been established over the p
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