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Prince v. Duke University6/13/1990
Plaintiff brought this medical malpractice action against defendant hospital seeking damages for the wrongful death of Ronald David Prince as a result of defendant's negligent acts or omissions. Briefly, the facts show that Mr. Prince was an extremely obese twenty-seven-year-old man who had for several years sought medical assistance in his efforts to lose weight. In January 1980, he was admitted into Duke Hospital and underwent a surgical procedure, gastric plication or "stomach stapling." He was again admitted to Duke Hospital in March of 1980 for tests and on 17 April 1980
further surgery was performed to reverse the stapling procedure. Antibiotics were prescribed to ward off infection. Recovery was slow but uneventful until 25 April 1980. On that day, the patient was noted to have rapid pulse and respiration rates although his body temperature and white blood count were normal. At approximately 4:00 p.m. on the same day, his blood pressure dropped and his heart rate increased. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Prince vomited and apparently aspirated, leading to respiratory and cardiac arrest. After cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Mr. Prince regained cardiac function and was moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Once there, he again experienced cardiac arrest and, this time, hospital personnel were unable to revive him. He was pronounced dead at 7:55 p.m. An autopsy was performed and the report listed Wernicke's encephalopathy as the cause of death. The autopsy report also noted that Mr. Prince had a clinical history of sepsis and shock.
The complaint was filed by Mr. Prince's wife, Cecile M. Prince, on 26 April 1982 alleging that defendant's negligence in the treatment and diagnosis of her husband proximately caused his death on 25 April 1980. Plaintiff took a voluntary dismissal on 31 August 1984 and refiled her suit on 27 August 1985. Duke Hospital filed an answer on 30 September 1985 and, following extensive discovery, the trial began on 5 June 1989. After approximately two weeks of hearing evidence and arguments, the jury returned a verdict in favor of defendant, Duke Hospital. Plaintiff filed a notice of appeal to the Court of Appeals on 21 June 1989, and this Court granted discretionary review ex mero motu prior to a determination by the lower appellate court.
We first address plaintiff's contention that the trial court erred in allowing Dr. F. Stephen Vogel, a neuropathologist at Duke Hospital, to testify at trial. On 5 June 1987, plaintiff served Duke Hospital with interrogatories asking in No. 17 for a listing of all expert witnesses whom defendant intended to call to testify on its behalf at trial. Duke Hospital timely responded on 7 July 1987. At that time the only expert named by Duke was Dr. William P.J. Peete. In keeping with Rule 26(e)(1) of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure, defendant seasonably supplemented its answers to plaintiff's first interrogatories and added Dr. Walter Pories and Dr. Frances Eason to its list of experts. Later, Duke Hospital again amended its earlier response on 18 May 1988 and noted that some of decedent's treating physicians may be called to testify concerning the course of treatment of Mr. Prince and
were therefore to be denominated as expert witnesses. Plaintiff did not request nor did defendant list the treating physicians. At the trial which began on 5 June 1989, Duke Hospital called Dr. Stephen Vogel to testify. He was subsequently qualified as an expert in the field of neuropathology and testified as to his review of the frozen slides of Mr. Prince's brain. He was then allowed to render his opinion as to the cause of death of Ronnie Prince.
It is plaintiff's contention that, since Dr. Voge
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