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Batson v. South Louisiana Medical Center12/6/1999
Plaintiff, Deborah Batson, brought this action to recover damages for injuries she sustained while hospitalized at South Louisiana Medical Center in Houma, Louisiana. We granted this writ of certiorari to determine whether the Malpractice Liability for State Services Act (MLSSA) prohibits multiple statutory caps for multiple acts of negligence which produce separate and independent damages. After a thorough review of the record, LSA-R.S. 40:1299.39(F), and related jurisprudence, we conclude that the MLSSA allows multiple caps for damages when separate acts of negligence are ascertainable and the resulting injuries are separable. Accordingly, we reverse the court of appeal's decision and remand this case to the court of appeal to determine the issue of damages under each cap.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
On July 26, 1990, plaintiff, Deborah Batson, a thirty-seven year old woman, was brought to the emergency room at South Louisiana Medical Center (SLMC). Ms. Batson, who had a history of peptic ulcer disease, was admitted to the hospital for treatment of a bleeding ulcer and underwent a surgical procedure to correct the bleeding. Pre-operatively and post-operatively, the treating physicians failed to prescribe antibiotics to prevent her from developing an infection. Within hours after her surgery, Ms. Batson began to exhibit signs of an infection. She developed a fever in excess of 102 degrees, which continued for at least five days, a rapid heartbeat, rapid respirations, sweating, restlessness, and abdominal pain. Five days following her surgery, Ms. Batson's surgical incision opened up, and purulent material drained from the incision site. It was only then that physicians initiated antibiotic therapy. By the time she was started on antibiotics, she had developed sepsis (infection of the blood). As a result of the infection and sepsis, Ms. Batson developed adult respiratory distress syndrome and was placed in the intensive care unit (ICU), where she remained for six months and seventeen days. During her prolonged stay in the ICU, Ms. Batson had a myocardial infarction (heart attack) and had to be resuscitated on several occasions. Ms. Batson's total hospitalization lasted nine months.
During her hospitalization, the nursing staff failed to frequently re-position Ms. Batson, an intervention which is designed to prevent the development of decubitus ulcers (bed sores). As a result, she developed multiple decubitus ulcers, which extended from her sacral area to her hips, legs, and ankles. The decubiti resulted in severe scarring of the lower half of Ms. Batson's body. Ultimately, Ms. Batson underwent pigskin grafting to close the wounds and improve the scarring.
Ms. Batson also developed severe flexion contractures of the hips, knees, and ankles, and she literally drew up into the fetal position. The contractures resulted from prolonged immobilization during her hospitalization. Experts testified that the contractures, which developed and progressed over a long period of time, were preventable with proper orthopedic and sufficient physical therapy care. Even the defendants' experts testified that they had never seen contractures of this degree develop during treatment in a hospital. The contractures were 100% disabling at the time of Ms. Batson's discharge from SLMC. Subsequently, Ms. Batson underwent surgical procedures to correct the flexion contractures. The procedures were moderately successful: Ms. Batson is in a "much straighter" position than the original fetal position.
During Ms. Batson's hospitalization, she mysteriously sustained a fracture of her right hip. SLMC could never explain how or when the fracture occurred. As a result of her prolonged an
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