Sutch v. Roxborough Memorial Hospital

47 Pa. D. & C.5th 69
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedMay 15, 2015
DocketNo. 00901
StatusPublished

This text of 47 Pa. D. & C.5th 69 (Sutch v. Roxborough Memorial Hospital) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sutch v. Roxborough Memorial Hospital, 47 Pa. D. & C.5th 69 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2015).

Opinion

MASSIAH-JACKSON, J.,

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND and PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In May, 2007, Mrs. Rosalind Wilson, went to [71]*71Roxborough Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia suffering from headache, chest pains, and shortness of breath. Following a chest x-ray, the radiologist identified a suspicious nodule and wrote on a Hospital STAT sheet and in her report a recommendation for CT scan with followup examinations. During Mrs. Wilson’s overnight stay, the doctors ruled out cardiac problems and pulmonary embolism at the hospital, however, her treating physicians did not advise her of the 2.3 centimeter nodule in her left lung. Twenty months later, in January, 2009, Rosalind Wilson learned that she had Stage IV lung cancer. The malignant nodule had grown to 8 centimeters and metastasized. Mrs. Wilson died on July 21, 2009, at age 70 years.

Her daughter, Rosalind W. Sutch, initiated this medical malpractice litigation in July, 2009 against the Hospital, the radiologist, the emergency room physician, and several staff physicians who participated in treatment during Mrs. Wilson’s May 3-4, 2007 stay.

In June, 2012, following a jury trial plaintiff-Estate was awarded $190,000.00. The trial judge granted post-trial motions and in October, 2012, a new trial was ordered. The Honorable Superior Court affirmed that determination by memorandum filed on November 4, 2013. The litigation was remanded for a new trial on the issues of both liability and damages, and against all parties. 3246 EDA 2012.

For nearly three weeks in the Fall, 2014, this court presided over the re-trial of this medical malpractice action. The jury heard from 22 witnesses, including experts in the fields of emergency medicine, hospital administration, internal medicine, geriatrics, family medicine, oncology, pulmonology, radiology, critical care, economics, nursing and more. On November 4, 2014, the jury returned a [72]*72verdict in favor of the Estate of Rosalind Wilson as follows: survival action, $965,550.00 and wrongful death action, $1,010,163.00. The total award for compensatory damages was $1,975,713.00. Liability was attributed to defendant-Emergency Room Physician-Jeffrey Geller, M.D. and Roxborough Emergency Physician Associates (“Geller”) at 33.3%, defendant-Staff Physician-Melanio Aguirre, M.D. at 33.3% and defendant-Hospital at 33.4%. The Radiologist, Barbara Goldman Robins, M.D. was found not liable.

Post-trial motions were filed by all parties. The court and counsel coordinated a briefing schedule applicable only to plaintiff-Estate, Geller and Dr. Robins. Oral argument was heard on May 7, 2015. After careful consideration of the issues raised by the parties, all motions for post-trial relief are denied in their entirety.

II. LEGAL DISCUSSION

A. Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict is Not Appropriate in This Case.

Judgment notwithstanding the verdict (“JNOV”) may be entered only in a clear case. If any basis exists upon which the jury could have properly made its award, the verdict will not be overturned. Quinby v. Plumsteadville Family Practice, Inc., 907 A.2d 1061, 1074 (Pa. 2006); Somerset Community Hospital v. Allan B. Mitchell & Assoc., Inc., 685 A.2d 141, 146 (Pa. Superior Ct. 1996).

There are only two bases upon which a court may enter JNOV. The first is when the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The second is when the evidence is such that no two reasonable minds could disagree that the outcome should have been rendered in favor of the movant. Quinby v. Plumsteadville Family Practice, [73]*73Inc., supra and cases cited at 907 A.2d 1074; Moure v. Raeuchle, 604 A.2d 1003, 1007 (Pa. 1992). JNOV is an extreme remedy. Considering only the evidence which supports the verdict, the court must give the verdict winner the benefit of all doubt and of every fact and inference deducible from the evidence. Griffin v. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center-Braddock Hospital, 950 A.2d 996, 999 (Pa. Superior Ct. 2008); Robertson v. Atlantic Richfield Petroleum Products Co., 537 A.2d 814, 819 (Pa. Superior Ct. 1987). JNOV is not appropriate in this case.

The basis for the defendant’s JNOV motion is set forth in Geller’s post-trial brief at page 5:

“Plaintiff failed to present sufficient, competent evidence to establish a prima facie cause of action for negligence against Geller because factual predicates for her experts’ opinion testimony were lacking. Specifically, the evidence presented at trial on behalf of plaintiff was insufficient to prove any breach of duty on Geller’s part.” (emphasis in original)

In Sutherland v. Monogahela Valley Hospital, 856 A.2d 55 (Pa. Superior Ct. 2004), the Superior Court considered the proof required to present a cause of action in medical negligence, citing Mitzelfelt v. Kamrin, 584 A.2d 888 (Pa. 1990); Montgomery v. South Philadelphia Medical Group, Inc., 656 A.2d 1385 (Pa. Superior Ct. 1995). The Sutherland Court held at 856 A.2d 60:

“A cause of action sounding in negligence for medical malpractice requires proof of four elements: (1) the medical practitioner owed a duty to the patient; (2) the practitioner breached that duty; (3) the breach of duty was the proximate cause of, or a substantial factor in, bringing about the harm suffered by the patient; and, [74]*74(4) the damages suffered by the patient were the direct result of the harm.”

See also, Sokolsky v. Eidelman, 93 A.3d 858, 863 (Pa. Superior Ct. 2014).

The plaintiff presented Stephanie Porges, M.D., the Director of the Emergency Department at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, as the expert witness in emergency medicine. October 27, 2014, N.T. 41-69. Dr. Porges testified with a reasonable degree of professional certainty that Dr. Geller’s deviation from the standard of care was the cause of Mrs. Wilson not being told she had a nodule on her lung.

Plaintiff’s expert opined that if Dr. Geller did not receive the test results before Mrs. Wilson’s care was transferred to Dr. Aguirre, then as the ordering doctor he should have documented and communicated in the chart “results still pending”, October 27,2014, N.T. 93,116, to alert the next provider to review the test results.

Plaintiff’s expert opined that if Dr. Geller did receive the test report, as indicated by the notation “cc: Dr. Geller,” and if he read the report, then the standard of care required that he order a CT scan for follow-up on the nodule. October 27, 2014, N.T 114-116.

The plaintiff’s expert testified that defendant-Geller properly ordered the V/Q scan which includes the two-viewx-ray. October 27, 2014,N.T. 100-101,103,106-107. The expert noted, however, that “As the physician who is responsible for the patient, you ordered the tests, you’re asking the question, you get the results.” October 27, 2014, N.T. 117. Whether the patient care was transferred to Dr. Aguirre at 2:30 p.m. or at 4:30 p.m.

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