Parker v. Centenary Heritage Manor

677 So. 2d 568, 1996 WL 348090
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 26, 1996
Docket28401-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 677 So. 2d 568 (Parker v. Centenary Heritage Manor) 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
Parker v. Centenary Heritage Manor, 677 So. 2d 568, 1996 WL 348090 (La. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

677 So.2d 568 (1996)

Pearl P. PARKER, et al., Plaintiff-Appellants,
v.
CENTENARY HERITAGE MANOR NURSING HOME, et al., Defendant-Appellees.

No. 28401-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

June 26, 1996.

*570 Nelson, Hammons & Self by John L. Hammons, Shreveport, for Appellants.

Mayer, Smith & Roberts by Mark A. Goodwin, Shreveport, for Appellee.

Before HIGHTOWER, STEWART and GASKINS, JJ.

GASKINS, Judge.

The plaintiffs appeal from a jury verdict and from a trial court judgment denying their motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) and for a new trial. The plaintiffs sued Schumpert Medical Center for the wrongful death of their husband and father, James Roy Parker. The jury found that Schumpert Medical Center was not negligent in its treatment of Mr. Parker. The trial court denied the plaintiffs' motions for JNOV and for new trial in which they objected to the verdict and argued that the jury misunderstood a jury interrogatory. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS

The plaintiffs in this case are Pearl P. Parker, the widow of James Roy Parker and Mr. Parker's surviving children, James Kenneth Parker, Julia Ann Parker Urhig, John Richard Parker, Barbara Parker Strickland, Betty Parker Bounds and Penelope Parker *571 Nolte.[1] The plaintiffs filed a wrongful death and survival action against the Centenary Heritage Manor Nursing Home and Schumpert Medical Center, alleging that Mr. Parker suffered two falls while under the care of the defendants which ultimately led to his death. The plaintiffs settled their claim against Centenary Heritage Manor Nursing Home and proceeded to trial against Schumpert Medical Center.

Mr. Parker was eighty years old at the time of his death. He was a heavy smoker and had trouble walking. He had suffered a heart attack some years earlier and in the 1960's, had lost his left arm in a farming accident. He frequently fell at his home and required a great deal of assistance from his wife in walking, bathing and dressing, and getting in and out of bed.

In 1988, Mrs. Parker had surgery to remove cataracts from her eyes. Because Mrs. Parker was not able to care for her husband during her recuperative period, it was decided that Mrs. Parker would stay with their daughter, Julia Urhig, for several weeks and Mr. Parker would stay with their daughter, Barbara Strickland.

Mrs. Strickland and her spouse had recently opened a convenience store and restaurant adjacent to their home. Mrs. Strickland soon determined that she was unable to assist in the family business and care for her father. The family decided to place Mr. Parker in the Centenary Heritage Nursing Home temporarily, until Mrs. Parker could resume the care of her husband.

Mr. Parker was placed in the nursing home on April 13, 1988. In the late evening hours of April 15, 1988, Mr. Parker fell at the nursing home, suffering a cut on the back of his head. The nursing home telephoned Mrs. Parker at Mrs. Urhig's residence and informed her of the accident. She was told that Mr. Parker would be taken to Schumpert for treatment.

Mr. Parker was transported to the Schumpert emergency room and the cut on the back of his head was sutured. Donald LaRosse, the nurse on duty in the emergency room, testified that Mr. Parker was alert and talked about his career as a farmer. Mr. LaRosse left Mr. Parker in the treatment room and telephoned the nursing home that Mr. Parker was ready to return to the home. Mr. LaRosse also instructed a nursing assistant, Nancy Ann Duncan, to check on Mr. Parker. Ms. Duncan testified that Mr. Parker was on his stretcher and doing well when she checked him.

While Mr. LaRosse was telephoning a local ambulance company to transport Mr. Parker back to the nursing home, a loud crash was heard coming from Mr. Parker's treatment room. Mr. Parker had fallen from the stretcher on which he was lying. He was found on the floor of the room and had suffered a broken hip. Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Urhig were again contacted and Mr. Parker was admitted to the hospital, where he underwent surgery to repair the hip on April 16, 1988.

Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Urhig contend that when Mr. LaRosse called them from Schumpert to inform them of the second injury to Mr. Parker, they asked if Mr. Parker had been restrained and if the rails of the bed were up at the time of the accident. They testified that they were told Mr. Parker was not restrained and the rails of the bed were not up at the time of the accident.

Mrs. Parker and Mr. and Mrs. Urhig proceeded to Schumpert immediately. Mrs. Urhig testified that they arrived at the emergency room and determined that Mr. Parker had already been transferred to a room. Mrs. Urhig asked to speak to Mr. LaRosse. According to her, Mr. LaRosse stated that he wished he could tell her more, but that he had already said too much. He then walked away.

According to the plaintiffs, Mr. Parker was not coherent throughout his stay in the hospital. He had surgery on the morning of April 16, 1988 to repair the hip fracture. While still in the hospital, on April 20, 1988, Mr. Parker had a heart attack and died.

On April 13, 1989, the plaintiffs filed a wrongful death and survival action against the nursing home and Schumpert Medical *572 Center, claiming that the falls, the hip fracture and the surgery ultimately led to Mr. Parker's fatal heart attack. The plaintiffs settled their claim against the nursing home prior to trial and proceeded to trial against Schumpert. The case was tried before a jury on February 13-17, 1995.

On February 17, 1995, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Schumpert Medical Center. A polling of the jury showed that the decision was ten to two, in favor of Schumpert Medical Center. The first jury interrogatory stated as follows:

Was Schumpert Medical Center guilty of any negligence in its treatment of James Roy Parker?

The jury checked "no" as their response to this question. The interrogatory also stated that if the jury answered "no" to the question, their inquiry was over.

On February 17, 1995, the day the jury rendered its verdict, the foreman of the jury wrote a letter to the attorney for the plaintiffs. Based upon this letter, the plaintiffs requested a JNOV or new trial, claiming that the jury was unsure of the meaning of the word "treatment" in the first jury interrogatory. The plaintiffs' attorney obtained affidavits from the members of the jury regarding the existence of confusion about the word "treatment." The plaintiffs also argued that the bailiff improperly communicated with the jury regarding this interrogatory.

The plaintiffs attached the foreman's letter and the affidavits of the jurors to their motions for JNOV and new trial. The defendant filed a motion to strike the affidavits and letter, arguing that the motion did not allege that any outside influence was improperly brought to bear upon the jury, and therefore, these items were not admissible.

The trial court denied the JNOV and new trial and granted the motion to strike. In written reasons for judgment, the trial court stated that, during the course of the trial, the plaintiffs did not object to the first question on the jury form. The court then recounted the instructions given to the jury on negligence. The court stated that expert evidence at trial established that the standard of care requires the side rails of a bed to be up and that a disoriented patient not be left unattended.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
677 So. 2d 568, 1996 WL 348090, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parker-v-centenary-heritage-manor-lactapp-1996.