Owens v. Dougherty

84 S.W.3d 542, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 1912, 2002 WL 31097456
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 20, 2002
DocketNo. 24439
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 84 S.W.3d 542 (Owens v. Dougherty) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Owens v. Dougherty, 84 S.W.3d 542, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 1912, 2002 WL 31097456 (Mo. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

PHILLIP R. GARRISON, Presiding Judge.

John Dougherty, D.O. (“Dr. Dougherty”) appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict in favor of Herbert L. Owens (“Mr. Owens”) individually, and as parent and next friend of Makayla D. Owens (“Makay-la”) (collectively referred to as “Plaintiffs”). The judgment arose from a wrongful death suit filed by Plaintiffs against several defendants, including Dr. Dougherty and Dr. Esther Wadley (“Dr. Wadley”) claiming medical negligence in the treatment of Mary Jo Owens (“Decedent”), wife of Mr. Owens, and mother of Makayla. Plaintiffs settled their claims against all defendants, except Dr. Dougherty, prior to trial. The jury returned a verdict against Dr. Dougherty in the amount of $800,000. On this appeal, Dr. Dougherty relies, inter alia, on instructional error. For the reasons discussed below, we reverse and remand for a new trial.

Decedent was seen on several occasions in the emergency room of Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Missouri (“Freeman Hospital”) complaining of coughing, green mucous, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal cramping. These visits began in December 1998, four days after she gave birth to Makayla, and continued until early February 1999. Decedent returned to Freeman Hospital on February 3, 1999, again complaining of continuing vomiting and diarrhea. Lab work was done during that visit, apparently for the first time since Decedent initially reported these problems. The results of the lab work indicated a potassium level of 2.1, which was considered so low as to constitute a “panic value.” “Panic values” were described in the evidence as “results which are so far from normal, either low or high, they are life threatening if not attended to as soon as possible.” Treatment by the emergency room physician included infusion of potassium, but the evidence indicated that the amount ordered was less than 4% of what she needed to replenish her potassium level. The emergency room physician also recommended that Decedent go to the Freeman Hospital Residents’ Clinic (“Residents’ Clinic”) for follow-up care. Dr. Dougherty was in charge of the Residents’ Clinic, [544]*544which was operated by Freeman Hospital and, as the name implies, was utilized to train resident physicians.

Decedent went to the Residents’ Clinic on February 8, 1999, complaining of the same symptoms for which she had been seen in the emergency room, i.e., cramping after eating, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. She initially was examined by Dr. Wadley, a resident physician functioning under the supervision of Dr. Dougherty. Dr. Dougherty and Dr. Wadley discussed a treatment plan for Decedent before she left the Residents’ Clinic on February 8. That plan included Dr. Dougherty telling Dr. Wadley to have Decedent go to the Freeman Hospital lab to have blood drawn, but he did not specify that she should do so immediately. The written order for the blood tests issued by Dr. Wadley was over the signature of Dr. Dougherty. Decedent was told to come back to the Residents’ Clinic in one week, or to call sooner if she continued having problems. Decedent did not go to the lab for the blood tests until February 10, 1999. The results of those tests indicated a potassium level of 2.2, still considered to be a “panic value.” 1

The lab technician at Freeman Hospital testified that, although the lab requisition form presented by Decedent to the lab had the Residents’ Clinic’s name on it, only Dr. Dougherty’s name appeared on the order form given to the lab technician. The lab technician testified that she obtained the results of the lab test, including the “panic value” for potassium, at 10:59 A.M. on February 10. She testified that she tried to call Dr. Dougherty’s “office” with the results, but got an answering machine that said that no one would be in the office until 12:00. She then “faxed the report to the office.” The lab technician did not get a “fax verification sheet” saying the fax was sent and received, because the lab’s fax machine “does not give that.” She did, however, get a report from the fax machine that the fax was “complete.” The evidence was less than clear, but indicated that Dr. Dougherty’s private office was separate from the Residents’ Clinic. The lab technician made no attempt to call the Residents’ Clinic or to fax the lab results to that location, despite the fact that the requisition form calling for the lab tests included the Residents’ Clinic’s phone number.

The evidence indicated that, at the time Decedent was still in the Residents’ Clinic on February 8, Dr. Dougherty knew the results of the lab tests done on February 3. It also indicated that he did not know of the results of the February 10 lab tests between that date and February 13, when Decedent died of cardiac arrhythmia. In fact, Dr. Dougherty did not know of the February 10 lab test results until Mr. Owens came into the Residents’ Clinic on February 15 (after Decedent’s death) and asked for copies of Decedent’s records. Dr. Dougherty testified that he then went to the computer and got the lab results after discovering that none were contained in the chart.

There was evidence that Decedent’s dangerously low potassium level was a treatable condition until her death on February 13, 1999. Dr. Dougherty’s attorney admitted, and other evidence indicated, that Decedent had hypokalemia (potassium depletion) on the date of her death, and that this condition caused or contributed to cause her death from cardiac arrhythmia.

[545]*545One of Dr. Dougherty’s contentions on this appeal is that the trial court erred in giving a withdrawal instruction. That instruction was:

The issue of any alleged negligence of any health care provider besides [Dr. Dougherty] and [Dr. Wadley] contributing to or causing the death of [Decedent] is withdrawn from the case and you are not to consider such issue in arriving at your verdict.

Dr. Dougherty contends that this instruction was erroneously given “because [it] withdrew issues relevant to [his] defense, in that there was substantial evidence that the conduct of other health-care providers (together with the physiologic susceptibility of decedent) was the sole legal and proximate cause of Decedent’s death.”

The Committee’s General Comment to withdrawal instructions, MAI 34.01 (2002 6th ed.)2 provides that a withdrawal instruction is only to be given when, during the course of the trial, a false issue, improper evidence, or evidence of an abandoned issue has been injected. The decision of whether to give a withdrawal instruction is discretionary with the trial court, and an abuse of that discretion occurs only when the trial court’s ruling is clearly against the logic of the circumstances and is so arbitrary and unreasonable as to shock one’s sense of justice and indicate a lack of careful consideration. Stevens v. Craft, 956 S.W.2d 351, 355 (Mo.App. S.D.1997).

Dr. Dougherty argues that he was entitled to, and did, present evidence advancing a different explanation of the sole, rather than contributing, cause of Decedent’s death. He cites Earll v. Consolidated Aluminum Corp., 714 S.W.2d 932, 935 (Mo.App. E.D.1986), in support of his contention that he was entitled to have the jury consider evidence that others were the sole cause of Decedent’s death. Consistent with this is Oldaker v. Peters,

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Bluebook (online)
84 S.W.3d 542, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 1912, 2002 WL 31097456, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/owens-v-dougherty-moctapp-2002.