Jones v. Papp

782 S.W.2d 236, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2609, 1989 WL 123227
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 19, 1989
DocketC14-88-00384-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 782 S.W.2d 236 (Jones v. Papp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. Papp, 782 S.W.2d 236, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2609, 1989 WL 123227 (Tex. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

ELLIS, Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment in a medical malpractice case. Appellants, Nonn Ann Jones and Herbert Jones, brought suit for personal injuries allegedly sustained by them due to medical treatment and care provided to Nonn Ann Jones by Otto Papp, M.D., during a selective coronary angiography procedure performed at Memorial City General Hospital. Appellants submit that the trial court erred in granting appellee’s motion for summary judgment. We affirm.

Nonn Ann Jon'es first consulted Dr. Papp, a board certified cardiologist, on August 6, 1981. Mrs. Jones’ complaint in August of 1981 was that she was tired. She asked Dr. Papp what a physical examination, a stress test and possibly an arterio-gram would show. Dr. Papp recommended that Mrs. Jones undergo an exercise EKG test to measure her aerobic capacity. Her EKG exercise test result showed that Mrs. Jones’ aerobic capacity was above average. On the basis of her current symptoms and her relatively healthy EKG test result, Dr. Papp determined that Mrs. Jones did not then have a heart condition for which further investigation was indicated.

On May 5, 1983, Mrs. Jones again consulted Dr. Papp. She underwent an exercise EKG test which indicated that her aerobic capacity had deteriorated to below average. Mrs. Jones also reported to Dr. Papp that, subsequent to her initial consultation with him in August of 1981, Mrs. Jones’ mother, father, and brother had all undergone coronary angiographies prior to their bypass surgeries. Based upon her marked aerobic impairment and her recent family history of heart disease, Dr. Papp determined that a coronary angiography was indicated to investigate further the condition of Mrs. Jones’ heart. Mrs. Jones was admitted to Memorial City General Hospital on May 8, 1983 for selective coronary arteriography. On the evening of May 8, 1983, Mrs. Jones read and signed the consent form provided by the hospital.

On the morning of May 9, 1983, Mrs. Jones was admitted into the Cardiac Cath-eterization Laboratory. At 10:07 a.m., Dr. Papp punctured a hole into the right femoral artery to insert the catheter into the main vessels of the body. At 10:45 a.m., Dr. Papp withdrew the catheter. To stop blood from leaking at the site of the puncture in the femoral artery, Dr. Papp applied manual pressure to the puncture site in order for a blood clot to form there. Blood continued to leak from the puncture cite in the femoral artery into the abdominal wall. Mrs. Jones complained of pain. Dr. Papp paged Dr. Joe E. Dossey, a general surgeon, who arrived at the Catheterization Laboratory fifteen minutes after Dr. Papp had withdrawn the catheter. Drs. Papp and Dossey determined the bleeding from the puncture site had stopped; they recommended conservative management and observation of Mrs. Jones. At 4:00 p.m. both physicians examined Mrs. Jones in her hospital room. Mrs. Jones complained of a great deal of discomfort in her right lower abdomen. Both physicians determined that surgery was indicated to close the hole at the puncture site of the femoral artery and also to evacuate the hematoma which had accumulated under the right quadrant of the abdominal wall. This surgéry was performed at 6:07 p.m. under general anesthesia by Dr. Dossey.

In their petition, appellants allege that Dr. Papp was negligent in failing to disclose to Nonn Ann Jones two material risks inherent in the coronary angiography procedure, namely, the risk of allergic reaction to the injected contrast media and the risk of surgical intervention under general anesthesia. Appellants also allege that Dr. Papp was negligent in his execution of the coronary angiography procedure.

Dr. Papp submitted his motion for summary judgment based upon the affidavit of Dr. Papp, Dr. Papp’s deposition, the deposition of Dr. Joe E. Dossey, M.D’., and the deposition of Nonn Ann Jones. Dr. Papp submitted that his summary judgment evidence proved that he had, as a matter of *238 law, complied with the standard of care with regard to informed consent; and that Dr. Papp, as a matter of law, caused no injury to Mrs. Jones and that he complied with the applicable standard of care in his treatment and care of Mrs. Jones. The trial court granted Dr. Papp’s motion for summary judgment. The Joneses then nonsuited Memorial City General Hospital and timely perfected their appeal to this court. Attached to this opinion are appendix No. 1 entitled, “List A Procedures,” and appendix No. 2 entitled, “Disclosure and Consent Form.”

Appellants submit three points of error. In their first point of error, appellants assert the trial court erred in granting Dr. Papp’s motion for summary judgment which was predicated on the erroneous argument that Dr. Papp complied, as a matter of law, with the standard of care of physicians in regard to informed consent. Appellant’s point of error two alleges the trial court erred in granting Dr. Papp’s motion for summary judgment which argued erroneously that nothing Dr. Papp did or failed to do, as a matter of law, caused any injury to Nonn Ann Jones. In point of error three, appellants argue the trial court erred in granting Dr. Papp’s motion for summary judgment which was predicated on the erroneous ground that appellants failed to file expert testimony to rebut Dr. Papp’s summary judgment proof.

A summary judgment is not entitled to the same deference given to a judgment following a trial on the merits. Unlike an appeal following a trial on the merits, when reviewing the grant of a summary judgment, the appellate court does not view the evidence in the light most favorable to the judgment of the trial court. Instead, this court must view the evidence in favor of the nonmovant, resolving all doubts and indulging all reasonable inferences in favor of reversal of the summary judgment. Nixon v. Mr. Property Management, 690 S.W.2d 546, 549 (Tex.1985); Gulbenkian v. Penn, 151- Tex. 412, 252 S.W.2d 929, 931 (Tex.1952).

At either the trial or appellate level, the question is not simply whether the non-movant raised a material fact issue to defeat the motion. Rather, unless the mov-ant proved beyond question it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law, this court must remand the case for a trial on the merits. Gibbs v. General Motors Corp., 450 S.W.2d 827, 828-829 (Tex.1970). The standards that must be applied when reviewing a summary judgment have been clearly mandated by the Texas Supreme Court in Nixon v. Mr. Property Management, 690 S.W.2d at 548:

1. The movant for summary judgment has the burden of showing that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
2. In deciding whether there is a disputed material fact issue precluding summary judgment, evidence favorable to the non-movant will be taken as true.
3. Every reasonable inference must be indulged in favor of the non-movant and any doubts resolved in its favor.

Nixon v. Mr. Property Management, 690 S.W.2d at 548-549; Montgomery v. Kennedy,

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Bluebook (online)
782 S.W.2d 236, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2609, 1989 WL 123227, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-papp-texapp-1989.