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Tucker v. University Specialty Hospital12/1/2005
Barbera, Meredith, Bloom, Theodore G. (Ret'd, Specially Assigned), JJ.
The appellants are the surviving children and parents of Judy Lynch ("the patient" or "Mrs. Lynch"), who died at the age of 53 as a consequence of a lethal overdose of Oxycontin pain medication while Mrs. Lynch was a post-surgical in-patient at University Specialty Hospital ("the hospital"), appellee. In opposition to a motion for summary judgment filed by the hospital, the patient produced expert testimony expressing an opinion that the patient's death should not have occurred in the absence of negligence on the part of the defendant hospital. The Circuit Court for Baltimore City was not persuaded that the testimony of the patient's experts was sufficient to take the claim of medical negligence to the jury, and entered summary judgment for the hospital. Appellants noted this appeal.
ISSUES
Appellants present two questions:
I. Did the trial court err in granting summary judgment by not allowing the appellants to rely upon Meda v. Brown in establishing legally sufficient evidence of negligence?
II. Did the trial court err in granting summary judgment by not finding legally sufficient evidence to meet the requirement of res ipsa loquitur?
Because we conclude that the expert testimony presented by appellants was legally sufficient to take their case to the jury under Meda v. Brown, 318 Md. 418 (1990), we shall vacate the judgment and remand the case for further proceedings. Consequently, we do not need to specifically address the second question raised by the appellants, although we shall observe that our reading of Meda v. Brown persuades us that this is not an appropriate case for permitting the jury to infer that the defendant was negligent, by resorting to the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, without the need for expert testimony.
FACTS
The evidentiary documents and deposition transcripts in the record reflect the following. Having previously undergone surgery at another facility, Mrs. Lynch was admitted to appellee's facility for wound care and rehabilitation on March 13, 2002. During her stay at the appellee hospital, she received multiple prescription medications, including Oxycontin, a narcotic medication used for relief of pain. She died on March 24, 2002, and the cause of her death was a toxic overdose of Oxycontin.
At approximately 7:00 p.m. on March 23, 2002, Alma Ebrado, R.N., came on duty and was assigned to care for Mrs. Lynch. According to Nurse Ebrado's deposition testimony, she administered 20 mg of Oxyfast (a fast acting form of Oxycontin) to Mrs. Lynch at 9:00 p.m., and administered the daily order medications, which included 40 mg of Oxycontin, at 10:00 p.m. Nurse Ebrado also testified that she entered Mrs. Lynch's room at approximately 6:55 a.m. on March 24, 2002, and found the patient to be "sleepy" but "easily arousable."
At 7:00 a.m. on March 24, 2002, Nurse Ebrado's shift ended, and she was relieved by Denise Mosley, R.N. According to Nurse Mosley's deposition testimony, she and Nurse Ebrado physically counted the narcotics assigned to Mrs. Lynch's room and confirmed that no medication was missing. At 7:25 a.m. Nurse Mosley entered Mrs. Lynch's room and found her blue, with frothy secretions coming from her mouth. A "code blue" was called, and Mrs. Lynch was transferred to University of Maryland Medical Center, but despite efforts to resuscitate her, Mrs. Lynch was pronounced dead at 8:20 a.m.
On March 25, 2002, the Medical Examiner's Office for the State of Maryland performed an autopsy. The medical examiner concluded that Mrs. Lynch died of "narcotic intoxication complicat
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