Stephens v. Petrino

86 S.W.3d 836, 350 Ark. 268, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 498
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 10, 2002
Docket01-1082
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 86 S.W.3d 836 (Stephens v. Petrino) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stephens v. Petrino, 86 S.W.3d 836, 350 Ark. 268, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 498 (Ark. 2002).

Opinion

Tom Glaze, Justice.

This is a medical malpractice action in which we are called on to further develop and interpret the relationship between Ark. R. Civ. P. 15, governing the relation back of amendments to pleadings, and Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-125 (1987), the so-called “John Doe” statute. Jurisdiction is proper in this court under Ark. Sup. Ct. R. l-2(b)(6).

The appellants in this case are Brandy Stephens and her mother, Linda Hensley. 1 Brandy suffered from a growth on her thyroid, and underwent a thyroid lobectomy surgery to correct the situation. The surgery took place on October 26, 1994. After the surgery, Brandy began having trouble swallowing, and her face and throat began swelling. A barium swallow study indicated that she had a leak in her esophagus. Her surgeons, Dr. Robert Petrino and Dr. Jack Alston, immediately performed emergency surgery on October 28, 1994, to correct the condition, and discovered during the surgery that Brandy’s esophagus had been perforated during the earlier surgery, although the perforation had not been discovered at that time.

On October 24, 1996, Brandy and her mother filed a lawsuit against Drs. Petrino and Alston, as well as their clinic, Northwest Arkansas Surgical Clinic (NASC), Siloam Springs Memorial Hospital, and “John Doe.” In her original complaint, Brandy alleged that Dr. Petrino had been negligent in perforating Brandy’s esophagus during the surgery, in failing to detect the perforation both during surgery and for a reasonable time afterward, and in failing to inform Brandy of the risks of the procedure. Brandy alleged alternatively that, if Dr. Petrino did not admit to being the person who perforated Brandy’s esophagus, Dr. Alston, as Dr. Petrino’s assistant, was the person responsible. Further, Brandy also stated that, if Drs. Petrino and Alston denied liability, then “in the alternative, an employee, agent, or other member of the hospital staff in the operating room, must have been responsible for perforating [Brandy’s] esophagus.” Finally, Brandy’s complaint named “John Doe” defendants pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 16-56-125 (1987), alleging that there were persons “presently unidentified and unknown . . . [who were] ultimately attributed, during the course of discovery, to have been the personfs] or parties] responsible for the perforation of [Brandy’s] esophagus.”

Following a period of discovery, Brandy filed a third amended complaint on November 15, 1999, naming, for the first time, Richard McVay, the Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (“CRNA”) who provided anesthesia services to Brandy during her surgery. In her third amended complaint, Brandy averred that she and her mother were substituting McVay for one of the pseudo-named John Doe defendants. Brandy specifically alleged that Drs. Petrino and Alston denied that they perforated Brandy’s esophagus, and had, during the course of discovery, “alluded to or opined that the tear in the esophagus occurred during, or is at least consistent with, a perforation that can occur during the course of intubation prior to surgery. Mr. McVay, the CRNA, was responsible for the intubation of Ms. Stephens immediately prior to her surgery.” Brandy also asserted that her surgeons had testified that some unknown third party, presumably a medical student, was present in the operating room and was apparently learning how to intubate a patient; both doctors had stated that this person •“appeared to be having some difficulty with the intubation process.” Brandy’s complaint further asserted that she never consented to the student’s participation in her surgery, and she additionally alleged that Dr. Petrino, as the primary surgeon, was vicariously liable for the conduct of any students or other observers in the operating room whose conduct injured her.

Pleading in the alternative, in her third amended complaint, Brandy alleged that, if Drs. Petrino and Alston were not responsible for perforating Brandy’s esophagus, then McVay, the CRNA, was negligent for the following: 1) perforating her esophagus; 2) failing to detect the perforation during surgery or afterwards; 3) failing to inform Brandy of the risk of esophageal perforation; or 4) failing to obtain Brandy’s consent for the participation of the medical student, for whom McVay was vicariously liable.

McVay answered Brandy’s amended complaint by asserting that his identity and involvement in the provision of anesthesia had been known to Brandy since the time of her surgery, because his name was on Brandy’s medical records and the operative report that was produced on October 26, 1994. For this reason, McVay rejoined that he was not properly a “John Doe” defendant, and the two-year statute of limitations had expired as to him. McVay also specifically denied liability for perforating Brandy’s esophagus, and he denied that anyone acting under his control or supervision failed to meet the applicable standards of care.

On December 13, 1999, McVay filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that the two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice actions had expired as to him, since Brandy had delayed naming him as a defendant for more than five years from the date of the surgery. McVay contended that, under Ark. R. Civ. P. 15, which permits the relation back of claims when the party to be added has received notice within the statute of limitations, he received no such notice and was entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. ‘ The trial court agreed, and granted McVay’s motion for summary judgment on April 10, 2000, finding that at the time of Brandy’s surgery, Brandy and her mother were aware of the identity and participation of both McVay and the medical student, so their complaint against him was barred by the statute of limitations.

On June 19, 2000, Drs. Petrino and Alston filed a motion for partial summary judgment, alleging there was no genuine issue as to any material facts regarding their liability based upon the actions or inactions of Greg Millnamow, the medical student who had been one of the unnamed John Doe defendants. The two surgeons argued that, since Millnamow’s identity had been known since the operative report was filed, he could not be an unnamed John Doe defendant, and the statutes of limitations had expired as to him. Further, because Brandy alleged that the surgeons were vicariously liable for Millnamow’s actions, and since the statute had expired, there could be no supportable cause of action against the surgeons for Millnamow’s actions. In addition, the doctors contended that Brandy’s original pleadings did not impute any of McVay’s negligence to them, or argue that they were negligent in their supervision of McVay, so any new allegation that they were liable via McVay would be barred by the statute of limitations, and by the fact that McVay had been dismissed from the lawsuit.

In response, Brandy filed a fourth amended complaint on June 28, 2000, specifically alleging that the surgeons were vicariously liable for the conduct of McVay and any medical student who had been in the operating room. The doctors filed a motion to dismiss this complaint on July 5, 2000, urging that the new vicarious liability allegations constituted a new cause of action that could not relate back to the original complaint. The trial court initially denied this motion, finding that the fourth amended complaint did not raise a completely new cause of action.

Drs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
86 S.W.3d 836, 350 Ark. 268, 2002 Ark. LEXIS 498, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stephens-v-petrino-ark-2002.