Sawlani v. Mills

830 N.E.2d 932, 2005 Ind. App. LEXIS 1249, 2005 WL 1632964
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 13, 2005
Docket45A05-0407-CV-388
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 830 N.E.2d 932 (Sawlani v. Mills) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sawlani v. Mills, 830 N.E.2d 932, 2005 Ind. App. LEXIS 1249, 2005 WL 1632964 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinions

OPINION

SHARPNACK, Judge.

Tulsi Sawlani, M.D., appeals a judgment in favor of Robin Mills on Mills's complaint. Sawlani raises three issues, which we restate as:

I. Whether the trial court erred by denying Sawlani's motion for judgment on the evidence regarding proximate cause;
II. Whether the trial court erred by granting Mills's motion for judgment on the evidence regarding Sawlani's affirmative defense of contributory negligence; and
Whether the trial court erred when it instructed the jury regarding damages for increased risk of harm. TIL.

We affirm.

The relevant facts follow. In August 1997, Mills noticed a "thickness" and pain in her left breast. Appellant's Appendix at 62-63. Mills discussed her concerns with her doctor, who ordered various tests, including a mammogram. Mills went to Methodist Hospital in Merrillville, Indiana, for the mammogram on September 5, 1997. Sawlani, a radiologist, interpreted Mills's mammogram. After interpreting the films, Sawlani examined Mills's breast and again reviewed the films. On September 6, 1997, Sawlani prepared an exam report, which indicated "No discrete nodule, microcaleification, skin thickening, or nipple retraction is seen bilaterally" and "no radiographic evidence of malignancy." Id. at 196. Sawlani recommended in the report that Mills have a follow-up mammogram in one year. Sawlani also sent Mills a letter, which provided in part:

The above breast examination did not show any sign of cancer.

Please remember that some cancers (about 10%) cannot be found by mammography, and that early detection requires a combination of monthly breast self-examination, yearly clinical breast examination, and periodic mammography.
Mammography is important to your ongoing health. For all women over the age of 40, the American Cancer Society recommends a mammogram every year. In your case, I recommend that you return for a follow-up mammogram in 1 year.
k otk ok

Id. at 197. Mills read the first sentence of the letter but did not read the rest of the letter.

On May 11, 1999, twenty months after her September 1997 mammogram, Mills obtained another mammogram. The radiologist, Dr. Richard Lichtenberg, found a "[sJuspicious abnormality" and asked Mills to retrieve the films from her 1997 mammogram. Id. at 198. Dr. Lichtenberg [936]*936prepared an exam report, which provided, in part: "There is a speculated density in the left upper inner quadrant at approximately 11 o'clock which appears to persist on spot views and appears more prominent as compared with the previous exam." Id. Mills was diagnosed with breast cancer, and after consultation with a surgeon, she underwent a lumpectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy.

Mills filed her proposed complaint against Sawlani with the Indiana Department of Insurance and alleged that Saw-lani "failed to meet the appropriate standards of care, skill and knowledge of physicians limiting their practice to the specialty of radiology in the diagnosis, treatment and care and reading of the mammogram films of the Plaintiff on or about September 6, 1997." Id. at 216. A medical review panel found that "the evidence submitted regarding [SqQwlani] does support the conclusion that [Sawla-ni] failed to meet the appropriate standard of care as charged in the Complaint but it is a question of fact as to whether the conduct complained of was a factor of the resultant damages." Id. at 234 (emphasis in original). Mills then filed her complaint against Sawlani alleging medical malpractice.

A jury trial was held in March 2004. The parties stipulated to the admission of the medical review panel's report. Additionally, during Mills's case-in-chief, she called Dr. Philip Hoffman, an oncologist, to testify. Dr. Hoffman testified that when Mills had surgery in 1999, she had a tumor that was two centimeters in size and had Stage I cancer. Dr. Hoffman testified that if she had been diagnosed in 1997, Mills would have had a tumor that was approximately one centimeter in size and would have had Stage I cancer. According to Dr. Hoffman, a diagnosis in 1997 would have made "a very small difference in her overall prognosis, I would say maybe a two or three percent overall difference in ten-year survival based upon that difference in size." Transeript at 174.

After Mills presented her case-in-chief, Sawlani moved for judgment on the evidence pursuant to Ind. Trial Rule 50. Sawlani argued, in part, that Mills had failed to present evidence demonstrating that Sawlani's care caused Mills's increased risk of harm, i.e. proximate cause. The trial court denied Sawlani's motion for judgment on the evidence.

At the close of evidence, Sawlani renewed his motion for judgment on the evidence, and the trial court again denied the motion. Mills also requested judgment on the evidence regarding Sawlant's affirmative defense of contributory negli-genee because of Mills's failure to have another mammogram in September 1998, as directed by Sawlant's letter to her. The trial court found that Mills's conduct was "not concurrent with and occurring with [Sawlani's] conduct to produce that initial injury, that is the injury which occurred from the alleged failure to diagnose." Appellant's Appendix at 140. Thus, the trial court granted Mills's motion for judgment on the evidence and stated that it would treat Mills's conduct as a failure to mitigate and would instruct the jury accordingly.

Sawlani tendered a proposed jury instruction regarding damages that provided as follows:

If the plaintiff has proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Dr. Sawlani was negligent, that his negligence was the proximate cause of a delay in the diagnosis of Ms. Mills' cancer, and that the delay in diagnosis substantially increased Ms. Mills' risk of recurrence of cancer, then you must calculate the damages to be awarded. The amount of damages recoverable is equal to the total amount of damages resulting from [937]*937Ms. Mills' injury multiplied by the percent by which the risk was increased.

Id. at 205. Sawlani also tendered a proposed verdiet form that provided:

We the jury find for the plaintiff, Robin Mills, and against the defendant, T.C. Sawlani, M.D., and calculate plaintiff's damages as follows:
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Id. at 206. The trial court refused Sawla-ni's proposed instruction and verdict form and instructed the jury regarding damages as follows:

If you find from a preponderance of all the evidence that the Defendant is liable to the Plaintiff and that the Plaintiff has suffered damages, you must determine the total amount of money that will fairly compensate Robin Mills after considering the evidence relating to damages. In determining the amount of damages to award Robin Mills, you may consider each of the following elements:
1. The increase in the risk of recurrence from the breast cancer Robin Mills was suffering due to delay in her cancer diagnosis;
2. The physical pain or mental suffering experienced by Robin Mills due to the delay in her diagnosis; and
3. Any lost time from employment suffered by Robin Mills caused by the Defendant's negligence.

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Sawlani v. Mills
830 N.E.2d 932 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2005)

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Bluebook (online)
830 N.E.2d 932, 2005 Ind. App. LEXIS 1249, 2005 WL 1632964, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sawlani-v-mills-indctapp-2005.