Scott v. Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center

53 So. 3d 714, 2010 La.App. 1 Cir. 0192, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 1768, 2010 WL 5185515
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 22, 2010
DocketNo. 2010 CA 0192
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 53 So. 3d 714 (Scott v. Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center) 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
Scott v. Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center, 53 So. 3d 714, 2010 La.App. 1 Cir. 0192, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 1768, 2010 WL 5185515 (La. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

KLINE, J.

|2In this appeal, the trial court granted a hospital’s motion for partial summary judgment concerning a single issue, i.e., whether the hospital’s breach of the applicable standard of care caused plaintiffs’ son to contract the hepatitis “C” virus. A judgment was signed that dismissed plaintiffs’ allegations and cause of action pertaining to the hepatitis “C” virus. The judgment was designated as final for purposes of LSA-C.C.P. art. 1915(B). For the reasons that follow, we affirm the partial summary judgment.2

PERTINENT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

This litigation arises from a boating accident on May 30, 1999, when thirteen-year old Cedric Scott, Jr., was injured and taken to the Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center (Chabert) emergency room. Dr. Fadi Naddour, the emergency room doctor, diagnosed Cedric, Jr. with abrasions to his low back, contusions and complaints of abdominal pain. He was treated and released. His condition did not improve, and on June 4, 1999, he returned to Chabert where he was diagnosed with a lacerated ruptured spleen and internal bleeding. A splenectomy was performed, and after-wards, he was given two units of blood supplied by a third party blood bank. Cedric, Jr., was discharged on June 9, but returned on July 11,1999, once again complaining of abdominal pain. He was released after being diagnosed with “transient abdominal” pain. On October 28, 1999, Cedric, Jr., again returned to Cha-bert complaining of abdominal pain and nausea. Again, he was treated and released. His condition worsened, and on February 29, 2000, Cedric, Jr. was readmitted into Chabert, where he was diagnosed with jaundice; the following day, [716]*716test results revealed he had hepatitis “C.” Eventually, he suffered liver failure and received a transplant in 2003.

|3On October 10, 2002, Ramona Scott, wife of/and Cedric Scott, Sr., individually and as natural tutors of the minor, Cedric Scott, Jr. (hereinafter, the Scotts), filed a petition for damages against Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center, through the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, and Dr. Fadi Naddour. The petition was later amended, and the Blood Center of Southeast Louisiana, Inc. (Blood Center) was added as a defendant. The petition alleges numerous acts of negligence, including that the blood transfusion received in June 1999 caused him to contract hepatitis “C.”

The matter was submitted to the Medical Review Panel. The panel found that Dr. Fadi Naddour failed to comply with the appropriate standard of care in his treatment of Cedric, Jr. The panel also unanimously concluded that neither Cha-bert nor the Blood Center breached its applicable standard of care regarding the collection, testing, screening and distribution of the two units of blood Cedric, Jr., received.

On June 23, 2005, Chabert filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of its liability regarding the blood transfusion. Chabert submitted Cedric, Jr.’s, medical records and an affidavit from Cedric, Jr.’s, physician in the liver transplant program to support its claim that the hepatitis “C” virus did not come from the blood transfusion. The medical record, dated May 16, 2002, states:

“Mr. Scott is a 16-year-old boy who probably have [sic] Hepatitis C for long time. He has been rapidly progressive for the last one year. His most recent liver biopsy showed cirrhosis with moderate inflammatory activity. He has no other underlying etiology of liver disease. I really doubt whether he acquired Hepatitis C at the time of transfusion 1999, and this is extremely unusual for hepatitis to progress this rapidly, so it’s likely that he may have acquired this before. He has a history of some pneumothorax and a chest tube placement about three days after birth....”

On July 11, 2005, the Blood Center filed a similar motion for summary judgment. In support of its motion, it submitted a physician’s affidavit stating that plaintiffs have no evidence showing that the units of blood received by Cedric, Jr., [¿were infected with hepatitis “C.” On July 29, 2005, the motions were heard; the trial court denied them on the basis that discovery was incomplete.

Nearly two years later, Chabert reasserted its motion.3 The matter was heard on December 21, 2007. By judgment dated July 2, 2009, the trial court granted Chabert’s motion for partial summary judgment concerning the issue of hepatitis and designated it as a final judgment pursuant to LSA-C.C.P. art. 1915(B). A judgment was signed, and the Scotts appealed. By interim order dated October 5, 2010, this court remanded the matter for the limited purpose of having the trial court “sign a judgment that contains the proper decretal language identifying the specific relief granted in regards to the ‘issue of hepatitis’ ” and ordered the district court’s clerk of court to supplement the appellate record with that judgment. On October 8, 2010, the trial court signed [717]*717an amended judgment, which granted Cha-bert’s motion for partial summary judgment concerning the issue of hepatitis and further dismissed “plaintiffs’ allegations and cause of action pertaining to [Cedric, Jr.’s] hepatitis ‘C’ virus.” Additionally, the trial court also designated the amended judgment as a final judgment for purposes of LSA-C.C.P. art. 1915(B). We now consider the Scott’s appeal of this partial summary judgment.

FINALITY OF PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT

This court’s appellate jurisdiction extends to final judgments. LSA-C.C.P. art. 2083. A partial judgment may be a final judgment even if it does not grant the successful party all of the relief prayed for or does not adjudicate all of the issues in the case. LSA-C.C.P. art. 1915(A). Article 1915 provides in pertinent part as follows:

A. A final judgment may be rendered and signed by the court, even though it may not grant the successful party or parties all of the relief prayed for, or may not adjudicate all of the issues in the case, when the court:
1 a(3) Grants a motion for summary judgment, as provided by Articles 966 through 969, but not including a summary judgment granted pursuant to Article 966(E).
B. (1) When a court renders a partial judgment or partial summary judgment or sustains an exception in part, as to one or more but less than all of the claims, demands, issues, or theories, whether in an original demand, recon-ventional demand, cross-claim, third party claim, or intervention, the judgment shall not constitute a final judgment unless it is designated as a final judgment by the court after an express determination that there is no just reason for delay.
(2) In the absence of such a determination and designation, any order or decision which adjudicates fewer than all claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties, shall not terminate the action as to any of the claims or parties and shall not constitute a final judgment for the purpose of an immediate appeal. Any such order or decision issued may be revised at any time prior to rendition of the judgment adjudicating all the claims and the rights and liabilities of all the parties.

As here stated, LSA-C.C.P. art. 1915(A)(3) particularly provides that partial summary judgments are final and appealable unless the summary judgment is rendered pursuant to art. 966(E), as was the judgment before us. LSA-C.C.P. art. 966(E) provides as follows:

E.

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Bluebook (online)
53 So. 3d 714, 2010 La.App. 1 Cir. 0192, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 1768, 2010 WL 5185515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-leonard-j-chabert-medical-center-lactapp-2010.