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White v. Kent Medical Center Inc.5/6/1991
Gladys White appeals a summary judgment order dismissing her medical malpractice claims against Kent Medical Center and four of its doctors (Defendants). She asserts that the trial court erred in concluding that she provided insufficient evidence to withstand the motion, as well as in alternatively dismissing her complaint because of discovery violations. We reverse.
For purposes of this summary judgment motion, the following facts are not in dispute. During the latter half of 1984, White was seen several times at the Kent Medical Center, usually by a different doctor. White, a smoker, complained of hoarseness to each of her doctors. On February 8, 1985, White returned again to the medical center, where she was seen by Dr. Frans Koning. Dr. Koning made note of White's persistent hoarseness and her smoking
habit and referred her to a Kent Medical Center ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist, Dr. Charles Caplan. Dr. Caplan examined White's larynx and discovered a mass on her left vocal cord. Further tests established that the mass was malignant. On March 19, 1985, an ENT surgeon, Dr. Steven Clark, removed White's entire larynx and performed a left neck dissection.
In July 1986, White filed a personal injury complaint alleging that the Kent Medical Center and four of its doctors negligently failed to conduct appropriate tests or refer her to appropriate specialists. The case proceeded slowly, with Defendants conducting minimal formal discovery and White conducting none. Finally, during 1988 and 1989, Defendants deposed White and her husband, and nondefendant Drs. Clark, Caplan, and Koning.
In October 1989, the matter was preassigned to a judge as part of the court's individual calendaring project. Following an initial pretrial conference, the judge entered an order setting trial and pretrial schedules. Trial was set for March 5, 1990. Under the order, White was required to identify expert and other witnesses 90 days before trial, and discovery was to be completed 35 days before trial. To that end, on December 6, White's attorney notified Defendants by letter that he would call Drs. Clark, Caplan and Koning as expert witnesses. The letter further stated that " ou have deposed these witnesses, and, I want to make sure that you understand that I regard them as expert witnesses in this case." He also deposed two of the defendant doctors in February 1990.
Defendants moved for summary judgment of dismissal. They argued that White's complaint should be dismissed because she lacked any admissible expert testimony regarding the standard of care applicable to the Defendants, had not answered interrogatories propounded in July 1989, and had not fully complied with the court's pretrial order.
White responded by offering as evidence excerpts from the depositions of her experts and two of the defendant
doctors. White claimed that this evidence established the applicable standard of care; that is, when a patient who smokes complains about 4 to 6 weeks of hoarseness, he or she should receive a vocal cord examination. White's evidence included testimony by her ENT surgeon, Dr. Clark, that 4 to 6 weeks of hoarseness in a patient who smokes is cause for that patient to be referred to a specialist, and testimony by Dr. Caplan, the ENT specialist who diagnosed White's cancer, that "a smoker who has intermittent hoarseness needs to have the larynx examined." She also submitted testimony from two of the defendant doctors, Dr. Baruck and Dr. Bauch. Dr. Baruck had testified that persistent hoarseness of 4 to 6 weeks would "require" a vocal cord examination, and that if the doctor failed to have the vocal cords examined, he or she "would be ne
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