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Hill v. Billups9/7/2005
This is the second time that this medical malpractice case has been before our court. On December 3, 1995, appellee Anita Billups brought her thirteen-day-old son, Stephon Billups, into the emergency room at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Forrest City, where he was treated by appellant, Dr. John Hill, a board-certified pediatrician. After examining Stephon, appellant discharged him and instructed appellee to give Stephon "Tylenol as needed" and Pedialyte. The following morning, after discovering that Stephon had stopped breathing, appellee returned to the emergency room with Stephon. Stephon was transferred to Arkansas Children's Hospital. Stephon died on December 6, 1995, as a result of a bacterial infection.
Subsequently, appellee filed suit, individually and as next of friend of Stephon, alleging medical malpractice. The case was tried to a jury February 19-26, 2003, in the St. Francis County Circuit Court. The jury returned a verdict for appellee in the amount of $250,000. Appellant appealed the verdict to this court. He alleged the following errors: (1) the trial court erred in excluding the deposition of his expert witness; (2) the trial court should have excluded the testimony of appellee's expert witness because of a failure to disclose changed opinion testimony; (3) during voir dire, the jury was improperly influenced by a reference to medical malpractice insurance.
In Hill v. Billups, 85 Ark. App. 166, 148 S.W.3d 288 (2004), we agreed with appellant's assertion that the trial court had erred when it refused to rule on the admissibility of the deposition testimony of appellant's expert witness and remanded that portion of the case back to the trial court. Upon remand, the trial court found that appellant's expert witness was not qualified to offer expert testimony, and therefore, excluded her deposition. Appellant now argues that the trial court abused its discretion when it excluded the testimony of his expert witness. We affirm.
Whether a witness qualifies as an expert in a particular field is a matter within the trial court's discretion, and we will not reverse such a decision absent an abuse of that discretion. Brunson v. State, 349 Ark. 300, 79 S.W.3d 304 (2002). Rule 702 of the Arkansas Rules of Evidence provides that "if scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise." Rule 702 expressly recognizes that an expert's testimony may be based on experience in addition to knowledge and training. Arrow Int'l v. Sparks, 81 Ark. App. 42, 98 S.W.3d 48 (2003).
If a reasonable basis exists demonstrating that a witness has knowledge of a subject beyond that of ordinary knowledge, the evidence is admissible as expert testimony. Id. There is a decided tendency to permit the fact-finder to hear the testimony of persons having superior knowledge in a given field, unless they are clearly lacking in training and experience. Id. The fact that a medical expert is not a specialist in that particular field does not exclude that medical expert from offering testimony. See First Commercial Trust Co. v. Rank, 323 Ark. 390, 915 S.W.2d 262 (1996).
Appellant sought to introduce the deposition testimony of Dr. Rani Lewis, assistant professor in the OB/GYN Department at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Lewis's specialty is high-risk-maternal fetal medicine, which involves the care of either mothers or babies who are at high risk during the course of the mother's pregnancy. She said that she regul
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