 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Gubbins v. Hurson10/14/2005
Argued April 21, 2005
Before TERRY, WAGNER, and GLICKMAN, Associate Judges.
Mary C. Gubbins and Shelton Davis appeal the judgment entered against them following the trial by jury of their medical malpractice claims against Susan Hurson, M.D., Jae-Koo Kim, M.D., Northwest Anesthesiology Group, P.C., and Sibley Memorial Hospital. We hold that the trial court erred in admitting previously undisclosed expert opinion testimony and in refusing to instruct the jury on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. Taken together, these errors entitle appellants to a new trial.
I.
In late December 1996, Mary Gubbins underwent surgery at Sibley Memorial Hospital to repair a leaking bladder and remedy an associated condition known as urinary stress incontinence. After Dr. Jae-Koo Kim administered anesthesia through an epidural catheter, Dr. Susan Hurson performed a hymenal remnant excision and anterior and posterior repair. The surgery was seemingly without complication, and it appeared to alleviate Gubbins's bladder problems. After the surgery, however, Gubbins experienced numbness and weakness in her legs, fell to the floor, and was unable to stand or walk.
Dr. Hurson referred Gubbins to Dr. Frank Anderson, a neurologist, who in turn referred Gubbins to a second neurologist, Dr. John Kelly, for an electromyography (EMG). Dr. Kelly conducted the EMG and diagnosed nerve damage at the L3-L4 level of the spine. Gubbins received physical therapy, but she still was confined to a wheelchair when she was discharged from the Hospital in mid-January 1997. After further therapy on an outpatient basis, Gubbins regained the use of her legs but continued to experience pain and impaired mobility.
Gubbins was unable to obtain an explanation of her nerve injury from her health care providers. Drs. Anderson and Kelly told her only that the anesthetic medication she was given during her surgery had injured her nerves somehow. Sibley Memorial Hospital conducted a review and, according to a letter from its Chief Executive Officer, investigated a number of possible causes, including: a problem with the anesthetic medication as provided by the drug manufacturer; the "remote possibility" that someone tampered with the medication; pharmacy error; improper programming or malfunction of the pump that was used to administer the medication; an "allergic type reaction to the medication"; "surgical positioning"; an "anesthesia technique problem with respect to the placement of the epidural catheter or subsequent migration of the catheter causing a central nervous system paralysis and/or peripheral nerve injury"; "complications from the administration of the anesthesia via an epidural catheter"; and unspecified other "complications associated with the surgical procedures." The Hospital's investigation ruled out some possibilities, such as pharmacy error, pump misuse or malfunction, and a problem with the medication. Further, the Hospital reported, " ll of the physicians we talked to and the pharmacy consultant agreed that it was unlikely that Ms. Gubbins experienced a drug allergy." There did exist "a possibility," the report continued, "that the complication was related to surgical positioning," but this had not been established and would have been "very unusual." Finally, regarding "anesthesia technique," the investigation found no evidence of any problem with the "placement or functioning of the epidural catheter." In short, the Hospital had "no definitive answer" to provide.
In December 1999, Gubbins and her husband, Shelton Davis, filed suit in Superior Court, alleging malpractice by Drs. Hurson and Kim and the Hospital staff who participated in the operation. At trial,
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 District of Columbia Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|