Triplett v. River Region Medical Corp.

50 So. 3d 1032, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 657, 2010 WL 5093777
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedDecember 14, 2010
DocketNo. 2008-CA-01173-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 50 So. 3d 1032 (Triplett v. River Region Medical Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Triplett v. River Region Medical Corp., 50 So. 3d 1032, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 657, 2010 WL 5093777 (Mich. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

ISHEE, J.,

for the Court:

¶ 1. On January 6, 2004, Jean Triplett (Triplett) underwent an elective hip-replacement surgery due to her struggles with bilateral degenerative hip disease. Approximately one day after the surgery, Triplett suffered from a stroke and eventually died on October 25, 2006. Triplett’s heirs and estate (Triplett’s heirs) filed suit in the Circuit Court of Warren County, Mississippi. River Region Medical Corporation, William C. Porter Jr., M.D., John Adams, M.D., Patty Stone, CRNA, Gladys Howard, R.N., and John and Jane Does 1-20 (River Region), were named as Defendants. Prior to the jury trial, River Region filed a motion for summary judgment, which was granted as to Dr. Porter, Howard, and River Region regarding any liability for Dr. Lamar McMillin, the physician who performed the surgery, under the theory of respondeat superior. At the close of the trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of River Region, after which Triplett’s heirs filed a motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, in the alternative, a new trial. The motion was denied; and Triplett’s heirs timely appealed, alleging the following errors: (1) the circuit court 'committed reversible error by granting summary judgment to River Region as to Dr. McMillin based on a determination that Triplett’s heirs failed to provide qualified expert testimony establishing the proper standard of care under which Dr. McMillin should have been operating; (2) the circuit court committed reversible error by declining to strike a juror who was employed by a law firm that had performed legal work for River Region; (3) the circuit court committed reversible error by denying a motion for a mistrial after allegedly prejudicial remarks were made by River Region in opening statements; (4) the circuit court committed reversible error by prohibiting a surgical consent form from being introduced into evidence and by allowing an expert affidavit to be introduced into evidence; and (5) the circuit court committed reversible error by denying and granting certain jury instructions. River Region timely filed a cross-appeal, regarding the circuit court’s denial of a motion in limine. We find no error in the circuit court’s decisions and, therefore, hold that Triplett’s heirs’s issues are without merit. Additionally, we find that, given our ruling, River Region’s cross-appeal is moot.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 2. Triplett suffered from bilateral degenerative hip disease for many year's pri- or to her death in 2006. In 1997, Triplett was diagnosed with bilateral carotid steno-sis and was recommended for a carotid endarterectomy. Triplett refused the sur[1035]*1035gery, and by 1999, her stenosis had progressed such that she finally consented to and underwent a right carotid endarterec-tomy. She refused to consent to a left carotid endarterectomy, despite medical warnings that her failure to undergo the surgery, coupled with her forty-one-year smoking habit, would place her at an extremely high risk of stroke. She was evaluated by several cardiovascular surgeons in 2002, all of whom informed her that she had severe artherosclerotic vascular disease and strongly recommended that she undergo a bilateral carotid endarterecto-my, and advising her that failure to undergo the surgery would place her at continued high risk of stroke.

¶ 3. In 2003, Dr. Porter, a Vicksburg orthopedic surgeon, evaluated Triplett regarding her ongoing hip pain. Due to her increasing pain, Triplett chose to undergo elective hip-replacement surgery. Prior to the surgery, Dr. Porter referred Triplett to Dr. McMillin, a family practitioner, for a pre-operative history and physical exam. During the exam, Triplett allegedly failed to inform Dr. Adams, an anesthesiologist, Drs. Porter and McMillin, and the certified nurse anesthetist, Stone, that she had been suffering from a severely occluded stenotic internal carotid artery for several years. She further allegedly misrepresented medical conditions that arose after the 1999 right carotid endarterectomy. Specifically, she failed to inform her doctors that she had severe atherosclerotic vascular disease and that she had been advised that she was at a high risk of stroke if she did not have a bilateral endarterectomy. Furthermore, Dr. Adams and Stone advised Triplett that one risk of anesthesia was death. Despite this warning, Triplett proceeded with the surgery.

¶ 4. On the morning of January 6, 2004, Dr. Adams and Stone prepared the seventy-one-year-old Triplett for surgery and noted elevated blood-pressure readings, but they attributed this to surgical anxiety. Triplett emerged from the surgery without incident and was admitted to a regular room on the evening of January 6, 2004. She allegedly greeted family and visitors the evening of her surgery, and she appeared normal into the morning after her surgery. In the early morning of January 7, 2004, nurses noted that Triplett “continue[d] to rest quietly with no signs or symptoms of distress.” Later in the morning, however, Triplett began exhibiting slurred speech and left-sided weaknesses and was eventually diagnosed as having suffered a stroke.

¶ 5. At trial, the parties were in dispute regarding the type of stroke Triplett had experienced. Triplett’s heirs presented testimony that the stroke was a direct result of the surgery. River Region countered with testimony that the stroke was not induced by the surgery, but it was embolic in nature, caused from Triplett’s underlying right-side stenosis and her forty-one-year history of continued smoking. Regardless of the nature of the stroke, Triplett passed away on October 25, 2006.

¶ 6. Prior to Triplett’s death, she filed suit against River Region, Dr. Porter, Dr. Adams, Stone, Howard, and John and Jane Does 1-20. The complaint alleged theories of negligence, medical malpractice, re-spondeat superior, breach of contract, and asked for punitive damages. After Triplett’s death, the heirs filed a “Suggestion of Death,” substituting themselves as plaintiffs in the case.

¶ 7. Before the jury trial began, River Region filed a motion for summary judgment. The circuit court initially denied the motion and granted Triplett’s heirs additional time to provide qualified expert witness testimony to support their theory of the case. However, after the heirs filed a supplemental affidavit of their expert [1036]*1036witness, River Region requested that the court reconsider their original motion for summary judgment in light of the newly filed expert-witness affidavit. The court agreed and, after a hearing on the matter, determined that Triplett’s heirs had failed to provide qualified expert testimony sufficient to establish the proper standard of care, breach of the standard of care, and a causal connection between the alleged breach and the claimed injury. Accordingly, the circuit court granted summary judgment as to Dr. Porter, Howard, and River Region regarding Dr. McMillin’s treatment.

¶ 8. Thereafter, on May 12, 2008, a jury trial commenced. During voir dire, a juror informed the circuit court that she worked for an attorneys’ office that had performed some legal work for River Region. However, the juror stated that she was not familiar with the work in question nor had she participated in the work in question. She further stated that she was not biased in favor of River Region or any other party. Triplett’s heirs moved to strike the juror for cause, a motion which was denied. Triplett’s heirs declined to use a peremptory strike, and the juror was placed on the jury panel.

¶ 9.

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50 So. 3d 1032, 2010 Miss. App. LEXIS 657, 2010 WL 5093777, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/triplett-v-river-region-medical-corp-missctapp-2010.