Cottage Grove Nursing Home, L.P. v. Carolyn Bowen, Individually and on Behalf of Her Husband Guy Bowen

• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Decided: July 1, 2021
• Docket: 2020-IA-00749-SCT
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI

NO. 2020-IA-00749-SCT

COTTAGE GROVE NURSING HOME, L.P.

v.

CAROLYN BOWEN, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF HER DECEASED HUSBAND GUY BOWEN

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 06/30/2020 TRIAL JUDGE: HON. WINSTON L. KIDD TRIAL COURT ATTORNEYS: ABBY GALE ROBINSON EUGENE RANDOLPH NAYLOR VICTORIA REPPOND BRADSHAW COURT FROM WHICH APPEALED: HINDS COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLANT: EUGENE RANDOLPH NAYLOR VICTORIA REPPOND BRADSHAW ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: ABBY GALE ROBINSON NATURE OF THE CASE: CIVIL - WRONGFUL DEATH DISPOSITION: REVERSED AND RENDERED - 07/01/2021 MOTION FOR REHEARING FILED: MANDATE ISSUED:

BEFORE KITCHENS, P.J., BEAM AND ISHEE, JJ.

BEAM, JUSTICE, FOR THE COURT:

¶1. This appeal arises from the denial by the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of

Hinds County of Cottage Grove Nursing Home’s summary-judgment motion. Carolyn

Bowen had sued Cottage Grove for wrongful death and medical negligence on behalf of her

husband, Guy Bowen. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶2. Guy Bowen had been a resident of Cottage Grove since June 2016. In May 2017, Guy

was diagnosed with prostate cancer that had metastasized into his organs and bones.

¶3. In October 2017, Guy fell in the shower at Cottage Grove and sustained multiple

fractures. The attending radiologist noted that the fractures were likely pathologic. Guy was

transferred to a rehabilitation facility and then to Pleasant Hill Nursing Home. Guy did not

return to Cottage Grove.

¶4. On March 18, 2018, Guy presented to the emergency department at UMMC with

various pain. A CT scan showed diffuse metastatic disease through his liver and widespread

osseous disease in his bones. Guy died five days later. The cause of death was determined

to be prostate cancer.

¶5. On January 16, 2019, Carolyn Bowen filed suit against Cottage Grove for wrongful

death and negligence arising out of the nursing home’s care of Guy. Specifically, Carolyn

claims that Guy’s fall at Cottage Grove, in which he sustained multiple fractures, was the

cause of Guy’s death five months later on March 23, 2018.

¶6. Cottage Grove filed a summary-judgment motion for Carolyn’s failure to produce

medical-expert testimony.

¶7. Carolyn produced an unsworn autopsy report signed by Dr. Steven Hayne. In the

report, Dr. Hayne concluded that Guy’s immediate causes of death were metastatic

adenocarcinoma and end-stage renal disease. Further, he listed the fractures as a cause of

death.

2 ¶8. The circuit court held a hearing on Cottage Grove’s summary-judgment motion and

denied it. Cottage Grove appealed.

I. Whether the trial court erred by denying Cottage Grove’s motion for summary judgment.

¶9. A trial court’s grant or denial of summary judgment is reviewed de novo. Leffler v.

Sharp, 891 So. 2d 152, 156 (Miss. 2004). Summary judgment is appropriate when “the

pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the

affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact[.]” Miss. R. Civ.

P. 56(c).

¶10. To establish a prima facie case of medical negligence under Mississippi law, the

plaintiff has the burden to establish the following elements through sworn expert testimony:

(1) a duty existed requiring the defendant to conform to a specific standard of conduct for the protection of others against an unreasonable risk of injury; (2) a failure to conform to the required standard occurred; and (3) such breach of duty by the defendant proximately caused an injury to the plaintiff.

Miss. Baptist Med. Ctr., Inc. v. Phelps, 254 So. 3d 843, 845 (Miss. 2018) (quoting

Crosthwait v. S. Health Corp. of Houston, Inc., 94 So. 3d 1070, 1073 (Miss. 2012)).

¶11. Expert testimony is essential in a medical-malpractice case “because the expert’s

testimony demonstrates how the [applicable] standard of care was disregarded, and the

testimony certifies that the defendant’s ‘failure was the proximate cause, or proximate

contributing cause’ of the injury.” Vicksburg Healthcare, LLC v. Dees, 152 So. 3d 1171,

1174 (Miss. 2014) (quoting Crosthwait, 94 So. 3d at 1073). When a plaintiff fails to provide

3 expert testimony establishing a prima facie case of medical malpractice, a grant of summary

judgment is required. Id. (citing Kuiper v. Tarnabine, 20 So. 3d. 658, 661 (Miss. 2009)).

¶12. Cottage Grove filed its summary-judgment motion because Carolyn did not present

sufficient expert testimony to support her medical-negligence claim. Carolyn submitted the

unsworn autopsy report of Dr. Hayne as expert testimony. Dr. Hayne’s report surmised that

“the history given indicates that the decedent fell, which is a major contributory cause of the

death of the individual.” Further, Dr. Hayne observed, the manner of death is “therapeutic

complication.”

¶13. The circuit court erred by denying Cottage Grove’s summary judgment motion based

on this report.

¶14. Cottage Grove’s summary-judgment motion showed that Carolyn produced an

unsworn report that failed to define the standard of care, how the standard of care was

breached, or how the alleged failure to meet the standard of care was the proximate cause or

proximate continuing cause of Guy’s death. Dr. Hayne’s report contained no clinical

pathology or explanation as to how a fracture allegedly caused or contributed to Guy’s death

five months after his discharge from Cottage Grove.

¶15. To establish the essential element of proximate cause in the medical-negligence

context, a plaintiff must produce sworn expert testimony from a qualified medical doctor

connecting the alleged injuries with the defendant’s alleged negligence. Vaughn v. Miss.

Baptist Med. Ctr., 20 So. 3d 645, 652 (Miss. 2009).

4 ¶16. The Court of Appeals Correctly rejected Dr. Hayne’s autopsy report in Maxwell v.

Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto, Inc., 958 So. 2d 284, 290 (Miss. Ct. App. 2007), for the

same reasons Cottage Grove sets forth. Dr. Hayne’s report failed to establish the standard

of care, how the care was allegedly breached, and causation. Id. at 290. The Court held that

Dr. Hayne’s report did not create a genuine issue of material fact. Id.

¶17. Furthermore, this Court in Thomas v. State, 249 So. 3d 331, 341 (Miss. 2018),

rejected Dr. Hayne’s opinion that the victim’s manner of death was a therapeutic

complication because therapeutic complication is not a recognized cause of death in

Mississippi. Thomas v. State, 249 So. 3d 331, 341 (Miss. 2018). This Court found that Dr.

Hayne’s opinion was not offered to a reasonable degree of medical probability.

¶18. Because Carolyn failed to provide any competent, sworn medical testimony containing

any specific facts or analysis as to Cottage Grove’s contribution to Guy’s death, Cottage

Grove is entitled to summary judgment.

CONCLUSION

¶19. The trial court erred by denying Cottage Grove’s summary-judgment motion. Cottage

Grove met its summary-judgment burden by showing that Carolyn had failed to produce

sworn expert testimony establishing a prima facie case of medical negligence. Accordingly,

we reverse the judgment of the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County,

and we render summary judgment in favor of Cottage Grove.

¶20. REVERSED AND RENDERED.

RANDOLPH, C.J., KITCHENS AND KING, P.JJ., COLEMAN, MAXWELL, CHAMBERLIN, ISHEE AND GRIFFIS, JJ., CONCUR.