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Hayward v. Jack's Pharmacy Incorporated6/15/2005
the district court in considering the motion. Thomson v. City of Lewiston, 137 Idaho 473, 475, 50 P.3d 488, 491 (2002). Summary judgment is appropriate only when "the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." I.R.C.P. 56(c). The burden of establishing the absence of an issue of material fact is on the moving party. Tingley v. Harrison, 125 Idaho 86, 89, 867 P.2d 960, 963 (1994). To meet this burden, the moving party must "challenge in its motion and establish through evidence the absence of any genuine issue of material fact on an element of the nonmoving party's case." Smith v. Meridian Joint Sch. Dist. No. 2, 128 Idaho 714, 719, 918 P.2d 583, 588 (1996). Courts must liberally construe the record, and draw all reasonable inferences therefrom in the nonmoving party's favor. Friel v. Boise City Hous. Auth., 126 Idaho 484, 485, 887 P.2d 29, 30 (1994). If the facts, when so construed, are such that reasonable persons could reach differing conclusions, summary judgment is not available. Harris v. Department of Health & Welfare, 123 Idaho 295, 298, 847 P.2d 1156, 1159 (1992).
III. DISCUSSION
This appeal requires us to decide whether (1) Hayward's medical expert submitted competent testimony regarding the standard of care for the class of health care provider to which Dr. Thurston belonged and in which capacity he was functioning at the time of the alleged negligence and (2) Hayward's pharmacy expert submitted competent testimony regarding the standard of care applicable to Jack's Pharmacy and the breach thereof.
A. The District Court Erred in Distinguishing Dr. Thurston's Roles as Medical Director and Physician
Hayward contends the district court erred when it distinguished between Dr. Thurston's roles as Valley Vista's medical director and Delbert's treating physician, and then went on to rule that Hayward presented no expert testimony relating to the standard of care applicable to physicians in St. Maries. We agree.
In medical malpractice cases: plaintiff must, as an essential part of his or her case in chief, affirmatively prove by direct expert testimony and by a preponderance of all the competent evidence, that such defendant then and there negligently failed to meet the applicable standard of health care practice of the community in which such care allegedly was or should have been provided, as such standard existed at the time and place of the alleged negligence of such physician and surgeon, hospital or other such health care provider and as such standard then and there existed with respect to the class of health care provider that such defendant then and there belonged to and in which capacity he, she or it was functioning.
I.C. ยง 6-1012. Section 6-1012 also provides the criteria by which a health care provider shall be judged: "Such individual providers of health care shall be judged in such cases in comparison with similarly trained and qualified providers of the same class in the same community, taking into account his or her training, experience, and fields of medical specialization, if any."
The applicable standard of care and the defendant's failure to meet it must be established by: testimony of one (1) or more knowledgeable, competent expert witnesses, and such expert testimony may only be admitted in evidence if the foundation therefor is first laid, establishing (a) that such opinion is actually held by the expert witness, (b) that the said opinion can be testified to with reasonable medical certainty, and (c) that such expert witness possesses
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