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Winkler v. Bethell6/16/2005
The instant appeal arises out of a wrongful-death action for medical malpractice. Appellant Charles E. Winkler, in his capacity as administrator of the Estate of Robin Nicole Hall, deceased, sued Appellees Dr. John Bethell, Dr. Kimberly Moore Clinton, Dr. Sarika S. Raj, the Pediatric Clinic of North Little Rock, P.A., Baptist Health - North Little Rock, and its liability insurance carrier, Reciprocal of America, alleging negligence that resulted in the death of his granddaughter, Robin Nicole Hall. On May 20, 2000, Robin Hall was taken to the emergency room at Baptist Health. Robin complained of headache, vomiting, weakness and a sore throat. Dr. Bethell, the emergency-room doctor on duty, made a probable diagnosis of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and hospitalized Robin. Dr. Bethel contacted a pediatrician, Dr. Clinton, to assume responsibility for the child. Dr. Clinton examined Robin and prescribed Doxycycline for her, but she did not receive the prescribed medication at that time.
The next morning, the child's condition had worsened, and the nurses on duty contacted Dr. Raj, the on-call physician. Dr. Raj did not respond to the first page, but after a second page, she arrived around 8:50 a.m. to assess Robin. At that time, Dr. Raj prescribed Phenergan and Morphine for Robin's nausea and pain and antibiotics to treat the infection in her blood. Robin was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit and a CT scan was ordered to determine if a spinal tap could be performed to rule out meningitis. Jan Cribbs, an ICU nurse, testified that she found Robin in the ICU hallway with unresponsive, dilated pupils. She further testified that she did not immediately call for a doctor. Around noon of that day, after the CT scan but before the spinal tap was performed, Robin went into respiratory arrest. She was then transferred to Arkansas Children's Hospital and pronounced dead the following day.
The first administratrix of Robin Hall's estate, Velda Graves, originally filed a wrongful-death action against Drs. Bethell, Clinton and Raj in Pulaski County Circuit Court on May 14, 2001. The complaint was subsequently amended to add the following defendants: the Pediatric Clinic of North Little Rock, P.A., Baptist Memorial Medical Center - North Little Rock, and its liability insurance carrier, Reciprocal of America. On April 10, 2002, Baptist Health filed a motion for summary judgment on the ground that the plaintiff was unable to prove proximate cause. Reciprocal of America subsequently adopted its insured's motion for summary judgment. The circuit court granted the motion on July 12, 2002, and dismissed plaintiff's complaint against Baptist Health and Reciprocal of America. Following plaintiff's oral motion for a non-suit of the complaint against the remaining defendants, the circuit court entered an order of non-suit pursuant to Ark. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(2005).
Then, on February 20, 2003, the case was refiled by Charles Winkler in his capacity as administrator of Robin Hall's estate against all of the original defendants, including Baptist Health and its insurer, Reciprocal of America. Baptist Health and Reciprocal of America filed motions to dismiss, arguing that principles of res judicata prevented the second lawsuit. The circuit court granted the dismissal, and ultimately, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the remaining defendants. Appellant filed a motion for new trial, which was denied by the circuit court. On appeal, the appellant argues that the circuit court erred in granting the original summary-judgment motion and dismissing Baptist Health and its insurer, Reciprocal of America, in dismissing Baptist Health and Reciprocal of America from the second suit on ground of res judicata,
Page 1 2 3 4 Arkansas Personal Injury Attorneys
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