Dougay v. Seventh Ward General Hospital

619 So. 2d 1084, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 1704, 1993 WL 146193
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 23, 1993
DocketNo. 92 CA 0434
StatusPublished

This text of 619 So. 2d 1084 (Dougay v. Seventh Ward General Hospital) 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
Dougay v. Seventh Ward General Hospital, 619 So. 2d 1084, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 1704, 1993 WL 146193 (La. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

CRAIN, Judge.

This is a tort suit by Carla Dougay for personal injuries allegedly received by her as the result of negligence of Seventh Ward Hospital (SWH) and one of its employees. Her husband, Gary Dougay, claims loss of consortium. From a judgment against SWH in its favor, SWH appeals. The only assignment of error is that the trial court’s judgment ignores “objective evidence of the collusive fraudulent testimony of all the plaintiffs’ witnesses” and “irreconcilable conflicts, inconsistencies and suspicious circumstances inherent in the plaintiffs’ case” allowing recovery of damages for an incident that never occurred.

It is Carla Dougay’s contention that she was admitted to Seventh Ward Hospital on September 21,1989, to deliver a baby. Her physician was Dr. J.C. Hess. The baby was born on September 21, 1989. On the night of the 22nd, around 8:30 p.m., her brother brought a hamburger to her room. She, her brother, her husband and her stepson were present. She ate the hamburger and needed to go to the bathroom. She buzzed the nurse for medication anticipating needing it after getting up and going to the bathroom. The nurse advised her she would bring it. A sink was located on the wall next to the bathroom door outside the bathroom. The way the room was constructed, if the bathroom door was standing open and the door leading in and out of the room was opened, it would hit the bathroom door. While Carla Dougay was standing in the bathroom doorway using the sink, the nurse suddenly opened the room door causing it to hit the bathroom door, in turn causing the bathroom door to close and strike Carla Dougay in the back. The blow allegedly injured Carla’s back resulting in a ruptured disc.

To prove her allegations, plaintiff called as a witness her brother, David MeCrory, who related the above sequence of events. He stated that when the door hit his sister in the back she started crying and screaming with pain. Her husband had been lying on the couch. He got up and helped Carla into the bathroom. When they closed the bathroom door, MeCrory was able to open the outside door. When he did so he saw Nurse Beverly Roddy outside with some aspirin for Carla. He identified nurse Rod-dy in court as being the nurse outside the door. When he opened the door he was mad and he told Nurse Roddy, “I’ll have you know when you opened that god damned door, you hit her in the back.” At that point he called her a “F’ing bitch.” Nurse Roddy said she would come back with some medication. She did not come back with the medication so he went to the nurses’ station and told her to bring Carla medication. She did and when she got back to the room Carla told her that the door had hit her in the back. Nurse Roddy apologized, gave Carla the medication and left.

Mr. MeCrory admitted on cross-examination that he did not relate cursing Nurse Roddy when he gave his deposition, and that in trying to identify the nurse, he described her differently than she actually appears. But, he asserts that when he saw her, he knew her. He further denied that Carla had any further accidents.

[1086]*1086Gary Dougay, Carla’s husband testified that he arrived at the hospital around 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. on September 22nd. Beverly Roddy came in around 7:00 p.m. and introduced herself as the nurse on duty. He lay down on the couch and was dozing. He remembers his brother-in-law coming in. The next thing he remembers was Carla at the sink “hollering and screaming.” She told him she had been hit by the door. Later Carla and David confronted Nurse Roddy about the door and she apologized. He was unaware of Carla’s having back problems other than from the accident.

Gary Dougay drove his wife to the emergency room of SWH on November 16,1989. She went because she was having a lot of back pain and they had called Dr. Hess who suggested the emergency room. Carla reported the history of her back problem to the nurse.

On cross-examination Gary Dougay testified that he called the hospital and reported the back incident two or three days after it occurred. He denied his wife had back trauma after being in the hospital.

Carla Dougay testified in her own behalf. She stated she had never received a back injury prior to September 22, 1989. Dr. Hess was her obstetrician during her second pregnancy. The only back pain she suffered prior to the accident was gynecological in nature.

The first time she saw Nurse Roddy was the night of September 22, 1989, when the nurse came by and told her she was the duty nurse. When Carla got up to go to the bathroom that night her husband, brother and stepson were present. She called the nursing station and told them she would be needing something for pain. She spoke to Nurse Roddy. Her brother helped her out of the bed. She went into the bathroom and got a bottle to fill with warm water. She was standing in the bathroom door filling the water bottle from the sink when the outside door opened striking the bathroom door causing it to hit her in the back. She was pinned between the door and the sink and she screamed. She did not see Nurse Roddy then, but heard her brother talking to her and recognized her voice. Later the nurse came in with some medication and apologized for having hit her in the back. The medication she was taking for her other problems at the time eased her back pain. She took it for granted the accident had been reported. She saw Dr. Hess on the morning of the 23rd when he made his rounds. She told him then she had been struck in the back. She took it for granted that he recorded it. After discharge, she had a minor infection. Dr. Hess prescribed medication, which also relieved the back pain, but she was having back problems.

Since the accident she has sought medical attention for her back problems. On November 16, 1989, she went to SWH emergency room at the instruction of Dr. Hess, and was seen by Dr. Merlin H. Allen. She had not moved any furniture prior to her hospital visit. She told the nurse at the emergency room her back pain was related to the door incident. She related the same history to Dr. Allen. He prescribed some medication which did not help. At the direction of Dr. Hess she went to see Dr. Famborough on November 29, 1989. He prescribed medication.

She continued to “hurt real bad” and on December 7, 1989, she went to see a Dr. Dunn. A friend recommended her to Dr. David M. Jarroth and she went to see him on January 18,1990. She had a MRI at his request. She went back to Dr. Dunn on April 3, 1990, and to Dr. Jarroth again on April 19, 1990. To have somebody local she went to Dr. Anthony Ioppolo in May of 1990. He recommended a myelogram in July of 1990. She went back to Dr. Jarroth and had another MRI done at SWH on April 3, 1991. Her last visit to Dr. Jarroth was June 10, 1991.

On cross-examination Carla denied 'having back trauma after the September 22, 1989 incident. She admitted she, like her brother, had also described Nurse Roddy as having white hair with a little black and having gold rim glasses, but that was before she saw photographs and recognized her. Her husband called the hospital several days after the accident to see if it was reported because her grandmother kept [1087]*1087telling her she needed to find out. In May of 1991, she did have some trauma as a result of her husband’s pushing her around some. She had a couple of knots on her head and a sore ankle. She did file a petition for a protective order from her husband in the 21st Judicial District Court on May 21, 1991.

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619 So. 2d 1084, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 1704, 1993 WL 146193, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dougay-v-seventh-ward-general-hospital-lactapp-1993.