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Dillon v. Med. Ctr. Hosp.9/24/1993
PETER B. ABELE, Judge.
This is an appeal from a partial summary judgment entered by the Ross County Common Pleas Court, finding that Ova L. Dillon, Jr. ("appellant") and Mary Elizabeth Dillon, appellants herein and plaintiffs below, had failed to establish a genuine issue of material fact concerning whether the Medical Center Hospital ("hospital"), defendant below and appellee herein, is liable for the alleged negligence of its nurses for failing to take and record hourly circulation checks of Ova Dillon's left foot.
Appellant assigns the following error:
"The lower court erred in granting Medical Center's motion for summary judgment on the grounds that there is not any genuine issue as to whether the negligence of the nurses proximately caused Ova L. Dillon, Jr.'s injuries."
We glean the following facts from the parties' briefs and the lower court's judgment entry. On January 22, 1988, appellant Ova L. Dillon, Jr. suffered injuries to his left leg when he fell from the back of a truck. Appellant went to the hospital's emergency room for treatment. Doctors placed a cast on his leg and admitted him to the hospital.
On January 23, 1988, appellant developed circulation problems in his left foot. The circulation improved after Dr. Max Hickman ordered the cast pressursreduced. During the next two days, appellant experienced more circulation problems. On January 24, 1988 at 3:50 p.m., nurses notified Dr. George Boll that appellant's circulation problems had worsened. Dr. Boll ordered the nurses to raise appellant's leg four inches. The nurses complied, and appellant's circulation improved.
On January 25, 1988 at 8:25 a.m., Dr. Boll examined appellant and wrote "toes are cool and getting number" on his progress notes. Twelve hours later, Dr. Boll removed the top of appellant's cast. Although circulation initially appeared to be returning to appellant's left foot, three hours later additional circulatory problems developed. Nurses contacted Dr. Hickman on January 26, 1988, at 2:00 a.m. about the problems. Dr. Hickman arrived at the hospital at 5:00 a.m. and determined that appellant suffered from compartment syndrome. At 5:30 a.m. Dr. Hickman performed a fasciotomy. Despite that surgery and more surgery performed a week later, compartment syndrome complications continued until other doctors amputated appellant's leg on October 13, 1988.
On January 24, 1989, appellant filed a medical malpractice action against Dr. Hickman and the hospital. In an amended complaint filed on June 1, 1989, appellant added Dr. Boll to that action. On July 18, 1991, appellant voluntarily dismissed the hospital from the action without prejudice. On October 2, 1991, appellant, Dr. Hickman and Dr. Boll filed an agreed entry dismissing appellant's claims against the physicians.
On September 3, 1991, appellant filed the instant action against the hospital, alleging "agents and employees" of the hospital "negligently cared for and treated" appellant. The hospital filed an answer noting that the physicians who treated appellant are not employees or agents of the hospital.
On August 18, 1992, the hospital filed a motion for summary judgment, noting that no one has ever alleged that its employees and agents conveyed insufficient information to the physicians, or otherwise caused them to commit malpractice. The hospital argued that Dr. Ian Blair Fries, appellant's expert witness in the previous action, testified by deposition that medical negligence occurred when Dr. Boll and Dr. Hickman failed to perform the fasciotomy in a timely manner. According to Dr. Fries, rather than ordering appellant's leg to be rais
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