Jacobs v. Chatwani

922 A.2d 950, 2007 Pa. Super. 102, 2007 Pa. Super. LEXIS 726
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 13, 2007
StatusPublished
Cited by62 cases

This text of 922 A.2d 950 (Jacobs v. Chatwani) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jacobs v. Chatwani, 922 A.2d 950, 2007 Pa. Super. 102, 2007 Pa. Super. LEXIS 726 (Pa. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinions

OPINION BY

BENDER, J.:

¶ 1 The plaintiff in this medical malpractice case, Sharon Jacobs a/k/a Sharon Burton (hereinafter “Plaintiff’), appeals from the September 26, 2005 judgment1 entered in favor of the defendants, Ashwin Chatwani, M.D., (“Dr. Chatwani”) and Temple University Hospital (“Hospital”), (collectively, “Defendants”). Plaintiff alleged that Dr. Chatwani was negligent in his performance of her hysterectomy, claiming that he injured her left ureter during the procedure resulting in the formation of a ureteral vaginal fístula and leakage of urine into her vagina. Following a jury verdict in favor of Defendants, Plaintiff took the instant appeal, in which she, inter alia, challenges the qualifications of Defendants’ urology expert and various other evidentiary rulings. We affirm.

¶ 2 The trial court set forth the following factual summary of this case:

In 1996, Plaintiff first came under the care of Dr. Chatwani, a Board-certified [obstetrieian/gyneeologist] and surgeon, after she developed fibroids of the uterus. [Plaintiff], who was overweight, was suffering from cardiomyopathy, and was anemic[,] was a practicing Jehovah’s Witness, whose religious beliefs ruled out blood transfusions. As a consequence of this, Dr. Chatwani began a course of treatment that did not involve surgery. It, however, was unsuccessful. There was evidence presented indicating that Plaintiff did not fully comply with the recommended course of treatment.
In November of 2000, Plaintiff agreed to undergo surgery to treat her fibroids. She was advised by Dr. Chatwani of the mechanics of the procedure he intended to perform upon her as well as the risks involved in the surgery, including possible harm to her ureter. Upon being so advised, Plaintiff agreed to undergo the surgery.
During the performance of the surgery, Dr. Chatwani took precaution to avoid injuring Plaintiffs ureters. When he completed the hysterectomy, Dr. Chatwani checked both ureters to ascertain whether they had suffered any injury. The tests were negative for injury, including a ureto-vaginal fistulae.
Plaintiff next saw Dr. Chatwani on January 12, 2001, for post-surgical examination. On that date, Plaintiff complained of persistent fevers, chills, sweating, and a pus discharge and odor from the surgical incision. She however, did not have a fever on the 12th.
On January 13, 2001, Plaintiff telephoned Dr. Chatwani’s office and ad[955]*955vised him that she passed clear fluid four or five times since the previous evening. Dr. Chatwani had her come to his office immediately, where he performed a test to ascertain whether Plaintiff had developed a vesieo-vaginal fistula. The test was negative and the doctor surmised that the fluid discharge had been caused by something else. He advised the Plaintiff that he would keep her under observation for a couple of days.
Plaintiff continued to leak fluid and on January 16, 2001, she underwent a retrograde urogram and during the procedure, she had a Double J stent inserted by Michael Pontari, M.D., Board-certified urologist, which remained in place until March 21, 2001.
On April 2, 2001, Plaintiff saw Dr. Chatwani. His examination of her revealed nothing abnormal. In a subsequent follow-up visit with Dr. Pontari, he noted that Plaintiff complained of left lower abdominal discomfort that dissipated with the use of an over-the-counter analgesic. Subsequent thereto, in March and May of 2001, Plaintiff underwent two IVP procedures. In addition, in May of 2001, testing showed that Plaintiff had left-kidney caliectasis that resolved with Lasix. She did not appear for a third IVP procedure scheduled some three months thereafter.
Plaintiff saw a Dr. Bagley on January 30, 2003, because she felt discomfort in her left lower quadrant and sometimes suffered from the frequent urge to urinate. Dr. Bagley did not recommend a course of treatment or suggest a followup. Since that time, Plaintiff has not receivefd] any care. She has not suffered any other symptoms following the removal of the stent which occurred in March of 2001.

Trial Court Opinion (T.C.O.), 6/30/06, at 2-3.

¶ 3 Plaintiff filed a complaint against Dr. Chatwani and Hospital on November 27, 2002. Defendants filed preliminary objections. On January 21, 2003, the trial court granted Defendants’ preliminary objections insofar as to strike allegations of gross negligence and recklessness in the complaint. On March 7, 2003, Defendants filed their answer to the complaint.

¶ 4 Plaintiff filed a motion in limine on April 15, 2005, in which she sought to exclude evidence that she is a Jehovah’s Witness and was uncooperative with pre-surgical treatments. She also sought to exclude the testimony of Defendants’ urology expert, Irvin H. Hirsch, M.D. As further explained below, Dr. Hirsch opined that the injury to Plaintiffs ureter was not due to any negligence in the performance of the hysterectomy but, rather, was the result of a known risk involved in this type of surgery from temporary loss of blood supply to the ureters occurring when the uterine arteries are clamped-off in order to remove the uterus. In any event, the trial court denied Plaintiffs motions in limine. Trial commenced on May 3, 2005, and ended with a jury verdict in Defendants’ favor on May 5, 2005. The trial court denied Plaintiffs post-trial motions, and judgment was entered on the verdict on September 26, 2005.

¶ 5 Plaintiff filed the present appeal on September 30, 2005. She sets forth the following “Statement of Questions Involved” in her brief:

1. Was Irvin H. Hirsch, M.D. qualified to testify as an expert on behalf of the defendants?
2. Did the trial court err when it permitted Dr. Hirsch to testify as to his ureteral devascularization theory?
3. Did the trial court err when it permitted evidence to be admitted to [956]*956the effect that (1) plaintiff is a Jehovah’s Witness and (2) plaintiff was uncooperative with presurgical care?
4. Did the trial court err when it refused to allow plaintiffs counsel to cross-examine Dr. Belford-Budd on a learned treatise?
5. Did the trial court err when it refused to allow plaintiffs counsel to cross-examine Dr. Belford-Budd concerning medical malpractice lawsuits against her?

Plaintiffs brief at 4 (suggested answers omitted).

¶ 6 In her first issue, Plaintiff asserts that the trial court erred by qualifying Dr. Hirsch, a board-certified urologist, to testify as a defense expert on the standard of care pertaining to an obstetrician/gynecologist performing a hysterectomy. She contends that he was not qualified to do so under both common law standards and under the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Act (MCARE Act), 40 P.S. §§ 1303.101-1303.1115. In reviewing this issue, we first note that “[w]hether a witness has been properly qualified to give expert witness testimony is vested in the discretion of the trial court. It is well settled in Pennsylvania that the standard for qualification of an expert witness is a liberal one.” Wexler v. Hecht, 847 A.2d 95

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
922 A.2d 950, 2007 Pa. Super. 102, 2007 Pa. Super. LEXIS 726, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jacobs-v-chatwani-pasuperct-2007.