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Jones v. Orris6/27/2005
ANDREWS, P. J., PHIPPS and MIKELL, JJ.
Lisha Jones appeals from the trial court's order granting the defendants summary judgment in her medical malpractice action. She contends she is entitled to a jury trial because there are material issues of fact as to the issue of proximate cause. She also asserts that the trial court erred by granting summary judgment to two defendants less than 30 days after their motions for summary judgment had been filed. Because the opinion of Jones's expert that the defendants' negligence proximately caused her damage is not supported by evidence in the record, and because Jones waived her objections to the shortened time frame, we affirm the trial court.
A de novo standard of review applies to an appeal from a grant of summary judgment, and we view the evidence, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the non-movant. Viewed in this light, the record shows that Jones filed suit against Dr. Gary Orris, Northside Hospital, Inc., Dr. Mark Koralewski, Kaiser Permanente Insurance Co., and XYZ Corp. d/b/a Kaiser Permanente, alleging that she suffered a ruptured appendix as a result of their medical malpractice and negligence. She also contends that she suffered permanent damages as a result of the rupture, including scar tissue that compromised her fertility. Jones attached to her complaint an affidavit from Dr. Jimmy Graham stating that he had personally reviewed the certified copies of the medical records of the treatment of Lisa Phillips Jones regarding her treatment with the Defendants in August of 1999, including the emergency department at Northside Hospital and the medical clinic at Kaiser Permanente.
Copies of the medical records reviewed by Dr. Graham were not attached to his affidavit. The following persons were deposed during discovery: Jones, Dr. Orris, Dr. Koralewski, Dr. Graham, and Dr. Dorothy Mitchell-Leef (Jones's reproductive specialist). Certified copies of medical records were not attached to any of these depositions.
Without Jones's medical records, it is difficult to piece together the chronology of her medical travails. The record contains no medical records, deposition testimony, or other expert evidence giving the details of Jones's appendectomy or subsequent hospital care, but contains only her testimony, the defendants' testimony of events occurring before the surgery, and Jones's fertility doctor's testimony of her treatment long after the surgery.
Jones herself testified at length regarding the events leading up to and following her emergency appendectomy, which included two calls to the Kaiser Permanente nurse advice line, followed by an immediate clinic visit from which Jones was transported by ambulance to Northside Hospital. Two CT scans were inconclusive, and she was discharged with medication and instructions to follow up at Kaiser, which she did three days later. After Jones described her continuing symptoms, Dr. Koralewski suspected a urinary tract infection and prescribed an antibiotic until he obtained test results. Jones returned to the emergency room the next day and underwent exploratory surgery. Jones testified that the surgeon told her that her appendix had ruptured and her abdomen was filled with pus. Jones remained in the hospital for almost two weeks after the surgery. After the surgery, Jones said, she had difficulty conceiving and underwent surgery to remove scar tissue.
Dr. Mitchell-Leef testified that she treated Jones for infertility after her appendectomy and discovered upon laparoscopic surgery that abdominal adhesions were causing fertility problems. She said that she often saw adhesions of this nature in pat
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