 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Mitchell v. Lincoln12/7/2005
Appellant Traci Mitchell, administratrix of her late husband's estate, brought this medical malpractice case against appellee Dr. Lance Lincoln for the wrongful death of her husband. The trial court granted appellee's motion for summary judgment on October 6, 2003, and it denied appellant's motion for reconsideration on November 3, 2003. Appellant contends on appeal that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment and in denying her motion for reconsideration; the issue before us is whether she was required to present expert testimony in order to establish the cause of action. We reverse the order of summary judgment and remand for trial.
The circumstances surrounding Guy Mitchell's death are these. In 1994 Mr. Mitchell was diagnosed with myelogenous leukemia. He underwent a bone-marrow transplant at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where one of his doctors was Dr. James L. Gajewski. In a letter to appellee dated January 6, 1995, Dr. Gajewski recommended the blood cells and platelet products to be used if Mr. Mitchell should need a blood transfusion. On eleven occasions between January 18 and March 22, 1995, Mr. Mitchell was transfused with blood products at Baxter County Regional Hospital under the direction of appellee, an internist practicing in Mountain Home, Arkansas; however, the blood products that were used included a type different from the type that Dr. Gajewski had recommended to appellee. On March 24, 1995, Mr. Mitchell was re-admitted to M.D. Anderson. In June and into July of 1995, after being discharged from M.D. Anderson, Mr. Mitchell was hospitalized at the University of Arkansas Medical Center. Mr. Mitchell died at home in Flippin, Arkansas, on July 23, 1995.
Appellee moved for summary judgment in August 1999 on the basis that appellant had not named an expert witness who would testify that appellee was "guilty of medical negligence" and that such negligence proximately caused Mr. Mitchell's death. Appellant took a voluntary non-suit on her cause of action, and the court entered an order of non-suit on August 20, 1999. Appellant re-filed her cause of action on August 17, 2000, again alleging that appellant was "guilty of medical negligence" and that such negligence was a proximate cause of the death of Mr. Mitchell.
Appellee filed his second motion for summary judgment on February 21, 2002, on the basis that appellant had not named an expert witness who would testify that appellee was guilty of medical negligence, that such negligence proximately caused the death of Mr. Mitchell, that appellee was negligent by deviating from the applicable standard of care, and that such negligence was the proximate cause of death. Appellee alleged that cases like the present one, involving complex medical issues such as treatment of leukemia, post bone-marrow transplant blood transfusions, and the appropriateness of blood and blood products that were transfused, require expert testimony because they involve medical issues not within the common knowledge of a lay juror.
Attached to appellee's motion for summary judgment was an affidavit of Dr. Gary Markland, a pathologist practicing in Little Rock, Arkansas. His affidavit included the following statements:
(1) I am a physician who is licensed by the State of Arkansas and I am a pathologist familiar with leukemia and transfusions of blood and blood products following leukemia and bone marrow transplants.
(2) I am familiar with the standard of care in Arkansas as it relates to the transfusion of blood and blood products to patients suffering with chronic myelogenous leukemia, which was the form of cancer that the decedent, Guy Mitchell, had and which ultimately
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Arkansas Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|