Laurel v. Prince

154 So. 3d 95, 2014 WL 1407231, 2014 Ala. LEXIS 51
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedApril 11, 2014
Docket1121412
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 154 So. 3d 95 (Laurel v. Prince) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Laurel v. Prince, 154 So. 3d 95, 2014 WL 1407231, 2014 Ala. LEXIS 51 (Ala. 2014).

Opinion

WISE, Justice.

Hector Laurel, M.D. (“Dr. Laurel”), Crissey1 Watkins, and Comprehensive Anesthesia Services, P.C. (“CAS”) (hereinafter collectively referred to as “the defendants”), sought a permissive appeal pursuant to Rule 5, Ala. R.App. P., from the Madison Circuit Court’s order denying their motions for a summary judgment. We granted permission to appeal; we now reverse the trial court’s order.

Facts and Procedural History

On August 17, 2009, the plaintiff, Tiffany Sisk Prince,2 underwent a laparoscopic cholecystectomy at The Madison Surgery Center. During the anesthetic induction of Prince, Watkins administered what she believed to be 4 milligrams of Zofran3 from a syringe that had a white label, handwritten on which was the letter “Z.” Watkins testified that that medication had been drawn into the syringe by Dr. Laurel, an anesthesiologist. After the medication was administered, and while Prince was moving from the preoperative stretcher to the operating-room stretcher, Prince became weak and was having trouble breathing. Watkins called for an anesthesiologist and assisted Prince with a bag mask. Subsequently, Dr. Hoger,4 another anesthesiologist, came in and administered anesthesia medication to Prince.

[97]*97Watkins testified that Dr. Laurel came into the room sometime during the induction of Prince. When talking to Dr. Laurel, Watkins learned that the syringe with the white label actually contained Zemu-ron, a paralytic, and that the syringe had been used on a previous patient (“Patient A”). Watkins testified that, during Patient A’s induction, she had disposed of a syringe of Zemuron because she had touched the cap. Subsequently, she said, Dr. Laurel had drawn another syringe of Zemuron for Patient A. According to Watkins, Dr. Laurel then put the Zemuron in Patient As top IV port, which was near the IV bag. Watkins testified that needles cannot be used in IV ports; that the syringes are screwed into the port; and that the medicine is then pushed into the IV port. Watkins also testified that, as Dr. Laurel was leaving Patient A’s room, he told her that Patient A needed Zofran and that it was on top of the cart. Watkins testified that she administered Zofran to Patient A and that she disposed of the syringe.

Watkins testified that she believed at the time that the syringe she used on Prince contained Zofran because it contained 2 ccs of medication and because it had a white label with a “Z” handwritten on it. She testified that white labels were typically used for Zofran and that Zemu-ron was normally labeled with a red label because it is a paralytic.

Watkins testified that she subsequently checked Patient As medical records and that Patient A’s medical history was negative for a history of HIV and hepatitis C. During the year following her surgery, Prince underwent routine testing for HIV and hepatitis C, and all of Prince’s tests were negative. Prince did not pay for any of the testing.

On August 16, 2011, Prince sued Dr. Laurel, Watkins, and CAS, alleging medical malpractice.5 The defendants filed motions for a summary judgment, and Prince filed her response to the motions. On August 15, 2013, after conducting a hearing, the trial court entered orders denying the defendants’ motions for a summary judgment. Watkins subsequently filed a “Motion to Reconsider or, Aternatively, Motion for Certification of Order for Appeal,” which CAS later joined. Dr. Laurel also filed a motion to reconsider. The trial court entered orders denying the motions to reconsider. On August 23, 2013, it provided the certification necessary for an interlocutory appeal pursuant to Rule 5, Aa. R.App. P. The defendants then filed a petition for a permissive appeal in this Court, and this Court granted the petition.

Standard of Review

“ ‘ “This Court’s review of a summary judgment [or the denial of a summary-judgment motion] is de novo. Williams v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 886 So.2d 72, 74 (Aa. 2003). We apply the same standard of review as the trial court applied. Specifically, we must determine whether the movant has made a prima facie showing that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that the mov-ant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Rule 56(c), Aa. R. Civ. P.; Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Alabama v. Hodurski, 899 So.2d 949, 952-53 (Aa.2004). In making such a determination, we must review the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant. Wilson v. Brown, 496 So.2d 756, 758 (Aa.1986). Once the movant makes a prima facie show[98]*98ing that there is no genuine issue of material fact, the burden then shifts to the nonmovant to produce ‘substantial evidence’ as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact. Bass v. SouthTrust Bank of Baldwin County, 538 So.2d 794, 797-98 (Ala.1989); Ala.Code 1975, § 12-21-12. ‘[Substantial evidence is evidence of such weight and quality that fair-minded persons in the exercise of impartial judgment can reasonably infer the existence of the fact sought to be proved.’ West v. Founders Life Assur. Co. of Fla., 547 So.2d 870, 871 (Ala.1989).” ’
“Prince v. Poole, 935 So.2d 431, 442 (Ala.2006) (quoting Dow v. Alabama Democratic Party, 897 So.2d 1035, 1038-39 (Ala.2004)).”

Brown v. W.P. Media, Inc., 17 So.3d 1167, 1169 (Ala.2009).

“ ‘In order to overcome a defendant’s properly supported summary-judgment motion, the plaintiff bears the burden of presenting substantial evidence as to each disputed element of [its] claim.’ Ex parte Harold L. Martin Distrib. Co., 769 So.2d 313, 314 (Ala.2000).”

White Sands Grp., L.L.C. v. PRS II, LLC, 32 So.3d 5, 11 (Ala.2009).

Discussion

The trial court’s certification for permissive appeal included the following controlling question of law:

“Whether Alabama law permits recovery for fear of an injury that has not occurred, and where the expert testimony is undisputed that there is no medical basis to conclude that the Plaintiff has any risk of incurring such injury in the future.”

Prince asserted medical-malpractice claims against the defendants.

“ ‘In any action for injury or damages or wrongful death, whether in contract or in tort, against a health care provider for breach of the standard of care, the plaintiff shall have the burden of proving by substantial evidence that the health care provider failed to exercise such reasonable care, skill, and diligence as other similarly situated health care providers in the same general line of practice ordinarily have and exercise in a like case.’
“ § 6-5-548(a) [, Ala.Code 1975].... In addition, to prove causation with respect to any of their claims, the plaintiffs must prove by substantial evidence that the acts or omissions of [of the health-care provider] ‘probably caused’ their injuries. Shanes v. Kiser, 729 So.2d 319 (Ala.1999); McAfee v. Baptist Med. Ctr., 641 So.2d 265 (Ala.1994).”

Houston Cnty. Health Care Auth. v. Williams, 961 So.2d 795, 810 (Ala.2006).

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Bluebook (online)
154 So. 3d 95, 2014 WL 1407231, 2014 Ala. LEXIS 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laurel-v-prince-ala-2014.