In Re Medical Review Panel Proceedings of Berry

30 So. 3d 251, 2009 La.App. 4 Cir. 0752, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 112, 2010 WL 323046
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 27, 2010
Docket2009-CA-0752
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 30 So. 3d 251 (In Re Medical Review Panel Proceedings of Berry) 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
In Re Medical Review Panel Proceedings of Berry, 30 So. 3d 251, 2009 La.App. 4 Cir. 0752, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 112, 2010 WL 323046 (La. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

TERRI F. LOVE, Judge.

|,Plaintiff/Appellant, Milton Berry, has appealed the trial court’s judgment granting an exception of prescription. Defendants, Tulane University Hospital and Clinic and Dr. James Butler filed exceptions of prescription, asserting that the appellant’s claims had prescribed. The trial court granted their exceptions and it is from those judgments appellant appeals. We find sufficient support for the trial court’s grant of the exceptions and affirm.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Milton Berry (“Mr. Berry”), Plaintiff/Appellant, filed a request for review with the Louisiana Patient’s Compensation Fund (PCF), alleging medical malpractice in the treatment of his right knee and naming as defendants, Ochsner Clinic Limited Liability at New Orleans, Infusion Partners-New Orleans, Dr. James Butler, Dr. Sunii, Dr. Witzig, Dr. Laundry,1 Dr. Garcia, and Tulane University Hospital and Clinic.

Mr. Berry alleged medical malpractice as a result of injuries sustained from |2a series of twelve (12) unsuccessful right knee surgeries, spanning a period of six (6) years as follows:

Mr. Berry’s treatment began in August of 1999, when Mr. Berry presented to Dr. Butler at Tulane University Hospital with complaints of pain in his right knee that occurred when walking and ascending or descending stairs. Dr. Butler examined Mr. Berry and conducted testing, after which he determined that Mr. Berry’s knee was rubbing bone against bone. Dr. Butler concluded that a total knee replacement was necessary. The knee replacement was to increase flexion to 80 degrees and eliminate symptoms of pain.

In early 2000, Dr. Butler performed a total knee replacement, installing a prosthetic right knee. Mr. Berry then began physical therapy and participated in other routine therapy while an in-patient and as an out-patient. However, Mr. Berry continued to have pain and limitations in his knee, and a second knee surgery was also performed in early 2000. After the second knee surgery, Dr. Butler informed Mr. Berry that the problem arose from scar tissue and was told that one-in-a-million legs don’t bend correctly.

Also, in March 2000, a third knee surgery was performed, resulting in scar tissue to the extent that the only way to correct it was to perform a fourth knee surgery in December 2000. In August 2001, a fifth knee surgery was performed to loosen screws in the knee in an attempt to achieve a 90-degree bend at the knee. However, after surgery, only a 70-degree bend was achieved.

|sDr. Butler later performed a sixth and seventh knee surgery. After these surgeries, Mr. Berry’s knee began to swell. In March 2002, Dr. Butler refused to see Mr. Berry. However, after Mr. Berry made demands, Dr. Butler saw Mr. Berry and told him that a bone was preventing the knee from bending at an 85-90-degree angle.

In the summer of 2004, Dr. Butler then performed an eighth knee surgery, during [254]*254which he cut more bone. Also in late 2004, a ninth knee surgery was performed, wherein Dr. Butler removed more bone and scar tissue. Mr. Berry’s right leg began to turn blue after this ninth surgery.

Dr. Butler again refused to see Mr. Berry. During this timeframe, Mr. Berry’s leg became infected and pus protruded from his leg upon touching. These problems persisted in 2004 and 2005, and Mr. Berry continued having the same problems with his knee.

Mr. Berry sought physical therapy, at which point a physical therapist advised Mr. Berry that he needed to see his doctor regarding worsening protrusion in the knee. In May 2005, a tenth surgery was performed to drain the infection from the knee and to clean and treat the prosthesis to fight detected bacteria. In December 2005, an eleventh and twelfth surgery were performed on Mr. Berry to insert cement in the knee and treat bacteria.

At the time of his original claim, Mr. Berry claimed that he was continually experiencing complications with his knee, ongoing infection, and treatment. Mr. Berry averred that the defendants/appellees made mistakes during his surgical | treatment process and unsuccessfully attempted to correct those mistakes with subsequent surgeries, which resulted in the appellant’s original claim of medical malpractice. After six (6) years of treatment, Mr. Berry had a severely infected knee, needed removal of the original prosthesis to treat the infection, as well as the removal of bone to treat the infection, and suffered from continuing infection, pain and restrictions in his right knee. He also claimed a psychological component of injury, which he maintained arose as a result of the defendants’ negligent treatment.

Mr. Berry’s original claim of medical malpractice was dated September 19, 2007; a supplemental request for leave to amend that claim was made on the same date, and was received by the PCF on September 21, 2007.

On September 28, 2007, the PCF acknowledged receipt of Mr. Berry’s September 19, 2007 filing by notice to Mr. Berry’s counsel, and the PCF requested that a specific description of alleged malpractice as to each named defendant and complete names of healthcare providers be provided within 10 days of the date of the notice. The PCF also advised Mr. Berry that Act 961 of the 2003 Regular Session requires a filing fee of $100 per named, qualified healthcare provider; however the notice stated that qualification could not be yet determined without the supplemental information.

Mr. Berry filed an Amended Claim of Malpractice with the PCF on October 11, 2007, including the requested supplemental information, again naming Dr. James Butler and adding Tulane University Hospital and Clinic (“TUHC”) as the |r,defendants. Therein, Mr. Berry claimed that the care and treatment provided by Dr. Butler and TUHC during these procedures constituted negligence and a breach of the standard of care.

On January 8, 2008, the PCF informed Mr. Berry’s counsel that his complaint was considered invalid and without effect due to his failure to timely remit the appropriate filing fee. This notice stated that previously, on October 22, 2007, the PCF advised Mr. Berry’s counsel that he had 45 days to submit the requisite filing fee, however no such correspondence is contained in the record. On January 14, 2008, Plaintiff refiled the PCF complaint against Tulane University Hospital and Clinic (“TUHC”) and Dr. Butler, reiterating the allegations contained in his October 11, 2007 PCF claim of medical malpractice.

[255]*255In response, the defendants filed Exceptions of Prescription, based on Mr. Berry’s October 2007 PCF complaint being prescribed on its face as it was filed more than one year after the alleged negligent act(s) and the January 2008 complaint being filed more than one year after discovery of the act(s). The trial court granted the defendants’ exceptions of Prescription and found Plaintiffs PCF Complaint was prescribed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

“A court of appeal may not set aside a trial court’s or a jury’s finding of fact in absence of ‘manifest error’ or unless it is ‘clearly wrong.’ ” Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840, 844 (La.1989); Stobart v. State Through Dept. of Transp. and Development, 617 So.2d 880, 882 (La.1993). The appellate court must determine not whether the trier of fact was right or wrong, but whether the factfinder’s conclusion was a reasonable one, after reviewing the record in its entirety. Mart v. Hill, 505 So.2d 1120, 1127 (La.1987); Rosell, supra; Stobart, supra.

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In Re Medical Review Panel Proceedings of Berry
30 So. 3d 251 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2010)

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30 So. 3d 251, 2009 La.App. 4 Cir. 0752, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 112, 2010 WL 323046, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-medical-review-panel-proceedings-of-berry-lactapp-2010.