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Katz v. Mt. Sinai Medical Center5/7/1998
ce action involving the professional skill and judgment of a nurse, expert testimony must be presented to establish the prevailing standard of care, a breach of that standard, and, that the nurse's negligence, if any, was the proximate cause of the patient's injury. * * * In a negligence action involving conduct within the common knowledge and experience of jurors, expert testimony is not required. * * * In this case, as the negligence action brought by Berdyck involves the professional skill and judgment of nurses employed by the hospital, expert testimony is required to prove the relevant standard of conduct. (Emphasis added; citations omitted).
Further, in Bruni v. Tatsumi (1976), 46 Ohio St.2d 127, the court stated in relevant part at 131:
Failure to establish the recognized standards of the medical community has been fatal to the presentation of a prima facie case of malpractice by the plaintiffs. (Citation omitted).
In this case, we recognize that the complaint filed by Katz alleged a breach of the standard of medical care in the community, and that the trial court ordered production of medical expert testimony on that issue, which Katz never produced. We further recognize that the deposition testimony of the Mount Sinai nurses suggests that when Katz arrived at the rehabilitation unit, members of the nursing staff knew that her physician had ordered her to ambulate as tolerated, full weight bearing. Thus, when the nurse's aide assisted Katz in obtaining her weight, she exercised some degree of professional skill and judgment in assessing Katz's ability to comply with the orders of the physician as written. This case, therefore, raises a claim involving professional malpractice rather than ordinary negligence, because it involves the professional skill, judgment, and care of the nurse's aide.
Here, Katz failed to comply with the trial court's order to produce an expert report regarding the prevailing standard of care, breach of that standard, and that the negligence, if any, proximately caused Katz's injury , arguing that the standard of care for a nurse's aide is within the common knowledge and experience of the jury. However, without expert testimony, Katz could not establish the relevant standard of care or the hospital's negligence. She, therefore, failed to meet her burden of proof as articulated in Dresher, supra, and the court properly granted summary judgment in favor of Mount Sinai. Accordingly, these assignments of error are overruled, and we affirm that decision.
Judgment affirmed.
It is ordered that appellee(s) recover of appellant(s) costs herein taxed.
The Court finds there were reasonable grounds for this appeal.
It is ordered that a special mandate issue out of this Court directing the Common Pleas Court to carry this judgment into execution.
A certified copy of this entry shall constitute the mandate pursuant to Rule 27 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
JOSEPH J. NAHRA, P.J., and KENNETH A. ROCCO, J., CONCUR
JUDGE TERRENCE O'DONNELL
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