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WASFI v. CHADDHA3/26/1991
stituted sufficient evidence that Riccio's "diagnostic modality" was within the range of acceptable medical options so as to justify the court's charge.
Wasfi contends that our holding will open a "Pandora's Box," shielding a defendant physician from liability every time experts differ concerning his choice of techniques. We disagree. After the plaintiff has presented a prima facie case, the defendant physician who claims that he employed one of several alternative methods accepted within his profession has no less a task than any defendant physician: to offer credible expert evidence that his conduct was accepted within the profession, and to persuade the jury to believe that evidence. It is true that an instruction on alternative acceptable methods may tempt jurors to decide that both sets of experts are right, instead of forcing them to make a difficult choice between opposing experts. The difficulties faced by lay jurors when evaluating expert evidence are, however, endemic to our system of trial by jury. We presume that the jury will abide by its duty to make a thoughtful, reasoned decision, applying its common sense and logic to the evidence presented. Cf. State v. Artis, 198 Conn. 617, 623, 503 A.2d 1181 (1986) (Healey, J., concurring). In this case, the jury would certainly have been justified in concluding that there was a difference of opinion within the profession regarding the timing of a CAT scan for a patient afflicted with a sudden unilateral hearing loss. We do not know, of course, whether the jury found that such a difference of opinion existed, or whether it simply believed Riccio's course of action was the only right course of action, since no special interrogatories were submitted to the jury.
II
In addition to the supposed "schools of thought" charge, Wasfi challenges all three instructions on intervening cause, even though the judge specifically told the jury to disregard the two earlier charges. Since those instructions were withdrawn we need consider only the final instruction, upon which the jury is presumed to have relied. State v. Cobb, 199 Conn. 322, 329, 507 A.2d 457 (1986); State v. Cavros, 196 Conn. 519, 528, 494 A.2d 550, cert. denied, 474 U.S. 904, 106 S.Ct. 233, 88 L.Ed.2d 232 (1985); Willametz v. Guida-Seibert Dairy Co., 157 Conn. 295, 301, 254 A.2d 473 (1968). That supplemental charge is set forth in the footnote.
Wasfi first claims that the third charge invited the jury to consider the doctrine of intervening cause as
a basis for excusing Riccio from liability for his negligence when it was unquestionably inapplicable to him. Because Wasfi never consulted Riccio until eighteen months after the CAT scan performed in May, 1981, it is clear that Chaddha's alleged negligence in interpreting the CAT scan could not constitute an intervening force that would attenuate the causal relationship between any negligence on the part of Riccio and any harm therefrom suffered by Wasfi. "An intervening force is one which actively operates in producing harm to another after the actor's negligent act or omission has been committed." (Emphasis added.) 2 Restatement (Second), Torts 441(1).
We disagree with Wasfi, however, that the portion of the third charge cited in support of her claim should be construed as making any negligence of Chaddha a ground for a verdict in favor of Riccio. The jury was told that " ather, because of the negligence of the other, Dr. Riccio, the second treating physician here, could only escape legal responsibility for the resulting harm to Mrs. Wasfi if he could not reasonably foresee or anticipate the harm that was likely to occur because of his own negligence." (Emphasis add
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