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Zakour v. UT Medical Group10/31/2005
On June 2, 1998, Patti Zakour ("Plaintiff" or "Appellant") presented to the Family Practice Center ("the clinic") in Covington, Tennessee operated by the University of Tennessee Medical Group ("UTMG"). Ms. Zakour presented with a mass in her right breast estimated by her examining physician, resident Dr. Nancy Rockstroh, to be 1.5 centimeters in diameter. Dr. Rockstroh consulted with Dr. John Kelly, another physician at the clinic, and they agreed to refer patient for a mammogram. The mammogram was performed on June 4, 1998 at the Baptist Hospital in Tipton County. The mass was interpreted by Dr. Soheil Hanna, the examining radiologist, as "probably benign." On June 5, 1998, Dr. Kelly sent a letter to Ms. Zakour stating that, based on the radiologist's reading of the mammogram, he recommended a follow-up mammogram in six months. Ms. Zakour returned to the clinic on July 6, 1998, where Dr. Rockstroh, and her supervising physician, Dr. Scott Craig examined her. According to the medical records, Dr. Rockstroh, with Dr. Craig's consent, recommended a repeat clinical breast exam in three months and a repeat mammogram in six months. The doctors allege that they told Ms. Zakour that she had two options, to either pursue a surgical referral for biopsy of the mass or choose a close clinical follow-up. The doctors stated that Ms. Zakour chose the close clinical follow-up. Ms. Zakour was told by the doctors to return to the clinic in three months. In March of 1999, nine months after the original mammogram, Ms. Zakour returned to the clinic complaining that the mass had become larger. Based on the changed condition of Ms. Zakour's right breast, Drs. Rockstroh and Craig referred Ms. Zakour for a surgical consult. Following a biopsy, Ms. Zakour was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.
On March 8, 2000, Ms. Zakour filed suit against Dr. Nancy Rockstroh, Dr. Scott Craig, Dr. John Kelly, UT Medical Group, Inc. a/k/a Family Practice Center, Baptist Memorial Hospital-Covington, and Dr. Soheil Hanna. The Complaint alleged that the defendant Drs. Craig and Rockstroh negligently failed to diagnose Ms. Zakour's cancer and that as a proximate result of such negligence, Ms. Zakour suffered injuries, which would not otherwise have occurred. On April 20, 2000, Dr. Craig and UTMG filed separate answers to the complaint. On November 15, 2000, the court entered an order of Voluntary Dismissal as to Dr. Craig. Ms. Zakour refiled her Complaint against Dr. Craig on November 15, 2001. On May 17, 2002, a consent order was entered consolidating the case against UTMG with the new case against Dr. Craig. Because of the various nonsuits and amendments, the pleadings in this case are somewhat confusing. However, we see no need to relate the pleadings in detail, but suffice it to say that at the time of trial, only defendants Dr. Craig and UTMG ("Defendants") remained in the lawsuit.
The trial began on March 31, 2003. During jury selection, Plaintiff Zakour's counsel objected to the peremptory challenges by Defendants, charging that the defense counsel was striking jurors based on race and gender. Plaintiff issued a Batson Challenge and argued that the Defendants gave no neutral reason or legal justification for challenging all the African-American members of the jury pool. Further, Plaintiff argued that the Defendants' exclusion of women from the jury pool was prejudicial. The trial court denied the Plaintiff's objections as to peremptory challenges of the Defendants. The Plaintiff then moved for a mistrial, which the trial court denied. The resulting jury consisted of four females, and eight males, all of whom were Caucasians.
During the trial, Defendants called Alisa Goehring, UTMG Manager of Contract and Le
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