Coody v. Richardson

569 So. 2d 1012, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 2340, 1990 WL 163122
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 26, 1990
DocketNo. 89-42
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 569 So. 2d 1012 (Coody v. Richardson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Coody v. Richardson, 569 So. 2d 1012, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 2340, 1990 WL 163122 (La. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

KNOLL, Judge.

Clarence E. Coody and his wife, Alice, appeal a unanimous jury verdict which rejected their medical malpractice claim against Dr. William P. Richardson, individually and as a medical corporation, and St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company (hereafter St. Paul Insurance), Dr. Richardson’s malpractice insurer, for injury to Mr. Coody during back surgery which allegedly rendered him impotent.

The Coodys contend that: (1) the jury’s verdict was contrary to the law and evidence; (2) the trial court erred in failing to charge the jury on “res ipsa loquitur” and the significance of incomplete records of treatment; (3) the trial court erred in failing to grant their motion for mistrial during the course of trial; and, (4) the trial court erred in- failing to grant their post-trial motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and/or new trial. We affirm.

FACTS

On September 19, 1983, Dr. Clark A. Gunderson, an orthopedic surgeon, assisted by Dr. William P. Richardson, a general and peripheral vascular surgeon, performed an anterior lumbar interbody fusion (which means the surgical approach to the lumbar vertebrae is through the abdomen instead of the back) on Clarence Coody at Lake Charles Memorial Hospital. The anterior approach was required because of the reabsorption of a prior fusion which had been performed posteriorly at this same level.1 Dr. Richardson prepared the anterior approach to the spine through the abdomen, and Dr. Gunderson performed the fusion at the L4-5 level of Coody’s spine.

Three months after the surgery, Coody’s wife told Dr. Gunderson that although Mr. Coody was capable of sexual intercourse prior to the anterior lumbar fusion, post-op-eratively he was impotent. Dr. Gunderson immediately referred Mr. Coody to Dr. Reed Fontenot, a urologist, for an evaluation for impoteney. Despite Dr. Gunder-son’s referral of Mr. Coody to Dr. Fontenot in December 1983, Mr. Coody did not consult Dr. Fontenot until August 1984. Subsequent to Dr. Fontenot’s preliminary tests which confirmed Mr. Coody’s impoteney, various urologists and specialists in the field of sexual dysfunction, whose testimonies will be detailed hereafter, examined Coody and reaffirmed that he was impotent.

Ultimately, Coody and his wife, Alice, sued only Dr. Richardson, contending that his part of the operation caused Coody’s impoteney. After five days of testimony, a [1014]*1014unanimous jury returned a verdict in favor of Dr. Richardson and his insurer and against the Coodys, finding no negligence on Dr. Richardson’s part. Subsequently, the Coodys’ motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and/or a new trial were denied and this appeal ensued.

JURY’S VERDICT WAS CONTRARY TO THE LAW AND EVIDENCE

The Coodys contend that the jury erred in rejecting their claim against Dr. Richardson, because Mr. Coody was not informed that impotency was a complication of surgery, and the only reasonable hypothesis for Mr. Coody’s impotency was that Dr. Richardson injured the parasympathetic nerves during surgery. In making this argument, the Coodys admit that they were unable to produce any direct evidence to show the cause of the injury and that their circumstantial evidence suggested that damage to the parasympathetic nerves during the operation was the most plausible explanation of Mr. Coody’s injury.

LSA-R.S. 9:2794(A) sets out the test for meeting the burden of proof in medical malpractice actions. It provides, in pertinent part:

“In a malpractice action based on the negligence of a physician licensed under R.S. 37:1261 et seq. ... the plaintiff shall have the burden of proving:
(1) The degree of knowledge or skill possessed or the degree of care ordinarily exercised by physicians ... licensed to practice in the state of Louisiana and actively practicing in a similar community or locale and under similar circumstances; and where the defendant practices in a particular specialty and where the alleged acts of medical negligence raise issues peculiar to the particular medical specialty involved, then the plaintiff has the burden of proving the degree of care ordinarily practiced by physicians ... within the involved medical specialty.
(2) That the defendant either lacked this degree of knowledge or skill or failed to use reasonable care and diligence, along with his best judgment in the application of that skill, and
(3)That as a proximate result of this lack of knowledge or skill or the failure to exercise this degree of care the plaintiff suffered injuries that would not otherwise have been incurred.”

Injury alone does not raise a presumption of the physician’s negligence. LSA-R.S. 9:2794(C). The respective weight to accord expert testimony, and the factual conclusions regarding negligence to be drawn therefrom, are functions of the trier of fact. Absent a showing of manifest error, these conclusions may not be reversed on appeal. Malbrough v. Hamsa, 463 So.2d 639 (La.App. 5th Cir.1984), writs denied, 466 So.2d 472, 474 (La.1985).

Basic to an analysis of the jury’s ultimate disposition of the Coodys’ contention is an understanding of the male physiology. Accordingly, as an aid to better understanding the questions presented in the malpractice case sub judice, we have appended an anatomical drawing to this opinion which was introduced into evidence. (See Appendix A.)

With reference to Mr. Coody’s impotence, the trier of fact heard the expert medical testimony of six doctors, all of whom agreed on the following primary facts: (1) male sexual function is controlled by the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves which exit the spinal cord; (2) the sympathetic nerves exit the spinal cord between the ninth thoracic vertebra and the second lumbar vertebra and affect detumescence, e.g., loss of erection; (3) an injury to the sympathetic nerves would cause retrograde ejaculation, i.e., the ejection of semen into the bladder rather than through the penis; (4)the pelvic brim is located at the level of the first sacral vertebra; (5) the parasympathetic nerves exit the spinal cord between the second and fourth sacral vertebrae, below the pelvic brim, and control the urinary bladder, the prostate, and the erectile function of the penis; (6) injury to the parasympathetic nerves may cause an inability to achieve an erection; and, (7) the anterior lumbar interbody fusion which was performed on Mr. Coody was done at the L4-5 level, above the pelvic brim.

[1015]*1015The first issue presented to the jury was whether Mr. Coody was informed that impotency was a complication of the anteri- or lumbar interbody fusion.

Credibility was directly addressed in the resolution of this issue: the Coodys contended that Dr. Gunderson did not make Mr. Coody aware that impotence was a complication of surgery, and that Dr. Richardson never discussed the surgery with him prior to his entering the operating room.

Dr. Gunderson testified that the anterior fusion was planned well in advance of surgery, and that he discussed sexual dysfunction, i.e., sterility in terms of retrograde ejaculation, as a possible complication of surgery in his office on the Friday prior to surgery and again on the Sunday night before surgery. He further testified that he also usually addresses impotency as a complication of surgery of this type because of the residual pain associated with the anterior approach.

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Related

Hardy v. Delta Downs, Inc.
599 So. 2d 364 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1992)
Coody v. Richardson
572 So. 2d 90 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
569 So. 2d 1012, 1990 La. App. LEXIS 2340, 1990 WL 163122, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coody-v-richardson-lactapp-1990.