Entrican v. Ming

962 So. 2d 28, 2007 WL 2200647
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 2, 2007
Docket2006-CA-00669-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 962 So. 2d 28 (Entrican v. Ming) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Entrican v. Ming, 962 So. 2d 28, 2007 WL 2200647 (Mich. 2007).

Opinion

962 So.2d 28 (2007)

Melissa ENTRICAN
v.
Doug MING, Jeremy Campbell and HMA Corporation, Inc. d/b/a Rankin Medical Center Ambulance Services a/k/a REMS.

No. 2006-CA-00669-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

August 2, 2007.

*29 Alan D. Lancaster, Winona, attorney for appellant.

Kimberly Nelson Howland, Jackson, attorney for appellees.

Before SMITH, C.J., DICKINSON and LAMAR, JJ.

SMITH, Chief Justice, for the Court.

¶ 1. On January 26, 2000, Melissa Entrican filed suit against Doug Ming, Jeremy Campbell, and REMS (sometimes referred to hereinafter as "Ambulance Service Defendants"), along with Frank B. Briggs, M.D., Martha D. Dickens, M.D., Beverly McMillan, M.D., Karl Hatten, M.D., and River Oaks Hospital, alleging that the negligence of these parties caused or contributed to the death of her minor daughter, Alisha Peavy. By stipulation of the parties, River Oaks Hospital and its employee physicians, Dr. Dickens, Dr. McMillan, and Dr. Hatten, were dismissed from the suit with prejudice. After this dismissal, only Entrican's claims against the Ambulance Service Defendants and Dr. Briggs remained.

¶ 2. The trial began on January 17, 2006, and at the close of Entrican's case-in-chief, counsel for the Ambulance Service Defendants moved for a directed verdict on the basis that the negligence of River Oaks Hospital, by and through its emergency department physician, Dr. Dickens, superceded any alleged negligence of the Ambulance Service and rendered any alleged negligence of the Ambulance Service Defendants only a remote and non-actionable cause of Alisha's death.

¶ 3. On February 9, 2006, Judge Yerger granted the Ambulance Service Defendants' motion for a directed verdict, holding that the negligent omissions of Dr. Dickens in failing to recognize that Alisha was in hypovelemic shock, in failing to adequately resuscitate Alisha by giving blood and intravenous fluids, and/or in failing to transfer Alisha to another medical facility, were not foreseeable by the Ambulance Service Defendants when they decided to transport Alisha to River Oaks, the nearest hospital. He further concluded that the negligence of Dr. Dickens and/or other River Oaks employees was an intervening and superceding cause of Alisha's death, and therefore any negligence on the part of the Ambulance Service Defendants was only a remote and non-actionable cause. Judge Yerger then dismissed the Ambulance Service Defendants with prejudice. Entrican filed a motion for a new *30 trial, which Judge Yerger denied on March 22, 2006, and she now appeals to this Court for review. On appeal, Entrican asserts the following errors:

I. The Trial Court Committed a Prejudicial Legal Error by Improperly Granting the Motion for Directed Verdict of the Defendant on the Ground That the Negligence of the River Oaks Hospital and its Emergency Room Physician Constituted a Superceding Intervening Cause of the Death of Alisha Peavy.
II. The Trial Court Committed a Prejudicial Legal Error in Granting the Motion for Directed Verdict of Defendants on the Ground That the Negligence of the Defendants Constituted Only a Remote Cause of the Death of Alisha Peavy.
III. The Trial Court Committed a Prejudicial Legal Error in Granting the Motion for Directed Verdict of Defendants on the Ground That the Negligence of the River Oaks Hospital and its Emergency Room Physician and the Negligence of Dr. Briggs Were Not Foreseeable by the Defendants.
IV. The Trial Court Committed a Prejudicial Legal Error in Granting the Motion for Directed Verdict of Defendants in That in Rendering its Decision, the Trial Court Failed to View the Evidence in a Light Most Favorable to the Plaintiff Together With All Reasonable Inferences That Could Be Drawn Therefrom.

¶ 4. However, these issues have been combined and restated by the Court, and therefore we will address only the following issue:

I. Whether the Ambulance Service Defendants Knew or Should Have Known That River Oaks Hospital Was Not Capable of Managing Alisha's Condition, and Whether Their Actions in Transporting Alisha to That Hospital Were Only a Remote Cause of Her Death.

FACTS

¶ 5. Appellant Melissa Entrican is an adult resident citizen of Rankin County, Mississippi, and is the mother of Alisha Peavy, the deceased. Appellees Doug Ming and Jeremy Campbell are adult resident citizens of the State of Mississippi and emergency medical technicians employed by Appellee Rankin Medical Center Ambulance Services (hereinafter "REMS"). At all relevant times, REMS was acting by and through its emergency medical technicians, Ming and Campbell, who were acting within the scope of their employment with REMS.

¶ 6. On January 26, 1998, at approximately 11:30 a.m., Alisha was involved in a motor vehicle collision which occurred at the intersection of Highway 471 and Bay Pointe Road within Rankin County, Mississippi. In response to a call at REMS for emergency assistance at the scene of the collision, Ming and Campbell arrived at the scene in a REMS ambulance. Upon arrival, Ming and Campbell noted massive damage to Alisha's side of the automobile and found Alisha trapped in the passenger seat. They also noted that she was approximately eight (8) months pregnant and had a soft abdomen with bruising. With episodes of decreased responsiveness, a systolic blood pressure in the 80 to 90 range, and signs of internal bleeding, Alisha was classified by Ming and Campbell as a Code 2 case (indicating that she was deteriorating) and taken to the River Oaks Hospital.

¶ 7. At approximately 12: 40 p.m., Alisha was admitted to the emergency department at River Oaks. After this time, Ming and Campbell no longer took care of Alisha *31 but remained at River Oaks Hospital in case the physicians determined that transport to another hospital was needed after initial stabilization. Martha Dickens, M.D., the physician in River Oaks Hospital's emergency department, accepted Alisha as a patient. Dr. Dickens, employed nine years as a full-time emergency physician, testified at trial that she was trained in Advanced Trauma Life Support, which is a system of generally accepted protocols for the treatment of trauma patients. As an ATLS-certified physician, Dickens was trained to recognize the signs and symptoms of hypovolemic shock. Dr. Dickens also testified that when someone is in hypovolemic shock, the correct procedure is to administer fluids to the patient, and then if vital signs continue to deteriorate, to administer blood. Dr. Dickens also testified that she feared Alisha was in hypovolemic shock and proceeded to administer fluids in an attempt to improve Alisha's vital signs. However, the vital signs continued to deteriorate, and, although Dr. Dickens admitted in her testimony that when this happens, it is a "fundamental principle" to then start transfusing blood, she further admitted that she did not do this.

¶ 8. At 1:25 p.m., Alisha was taken to x-ray for cervical spine, and chest x-rays but while she was waiting to be placed on the CT machine, her respirations became more labored and rapid. Alisha was then returned to the emergency department, and on the way back, she stopped breathing. Her respirations were assisted with a bag valve mask. At 2:35 p.m., Alisha was again taken to CT, where she remained until 3:45 p.m., at which time she was taken to the holding room (preoperative area). At 3:52 p.m., she was taken to the operating room, where surgical procedures were performed by Dr. Briggs and Dr. McMillan. Id.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
962 So. 2d 28, 2007 WL 2200647, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/entrican-v-ming-miss-2007.