Van Zandt v. Holy Redeemer Hospital

57 Pa. D. & C.4th 556, 2001 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 194
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County
DecidedDecember 18, 2001
Docketno. 2022
StatusPublished

This text of 57 Pa. D. & C.4th 556 (Van Zandt v. Holy Redeemer 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
Van Zandt v. Holy Redeemer Hospital, 57 Pa. D. & C.4th 556, 2001 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 194 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2001).

Opinion

DI BONA, J.,

This is an appeal taken by the defendants, Holy Redeemer Hospital and Manuel A. Bergnes M.D., from this court’s denial of post verdict motions. This case was tried before this court and a jury in January of 2001. After a two-day trial, the jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants in the amount of $300,000. Negligence was apportioned 75 percent against the hospital and 25 percent against the doctor. Post verdict motions were filed by both defendants and were denied on May 8, 2001. Plaintiff’s motion for delay damages was granted on the same date and the verdict was molded to reflect the inclusion of delay damages in the amount of $23,798.39. These appeals followed.

The plaintiff filed the instant negligence action against the defendants claiming that the defendants violated the express wishes of the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s decedent when it permitted the Lion’s Eye Bank of the Greater Delaware Valley to harvest the eyes of the plaintiff’s decedent against the plaintiff’s express refusal to allow such a procedure. In plaintiff’s amended complaint, plaintiff stated that she was the only child of the decedent, that she had refused to allow the harvesting of her [558]*558mother’s eyes following her death, and that the issuance of a post-mortem report by the defendants indicating that the decedent’s eyes had been removed was negligent conduct which caused plaintiff emotional damages. The evidence adduced at trial indicated that the Eye Bank had contacted the plaintiff and requested the donation of her deceased mother’s eyes. Plaintiff, due to religious beliefs and other personal considerations, refused to permit the harvesting of her mother’s eyes. Several months later, the plaintiff ordered and received a copy of the postmortem report, signed by the defendant, Bergnes, which indicated that the decedent’s eyes had, in fact, been harvested. Thereafter, the defendant, Bergnes, signed an amended post-mortem report, authored by legal counsel to the defendant hospital, which directly contradicted the original report and stated that the eyes had not been examined or removed. Plaintiff claimed that she had suffered nightmares and other psychological damages upon learning that her mother’s eyes had been harvested against her instructions. The jury found that the conduct of the defendants was a substantial factor in causing plaintiff’s emotional injuries and awarded plaintiff the sum of $300,000.

On appeal, the defendants’ raise numerous issues of alleged trial court error, the first of which is that this court erred in failing to grant defendants ’ motion for judgment n.o.v. In the recent case of Kit v. Mitchell, 771 A.2d 814 (Pa. Super. 2001) the Superior Court held that:

“Our review of a trial court’s order granting judgment n.o.v. is limited to determining whether the trial court [559]*559abused its discretion or committed an error of law that controlled the outcome of the case. Campo v. St. Luke's Hospital, 755 A.2d 20, 23 (Pa. Super. 2000). Our Supreme Court summarized the relevant considerations regarding the grant of judgment n.o.v. as follows:

“In reviewing a motion for judgment n.o.v., the evidence must be considered in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, and he must be given the benefit of every reasonable inference of fact arising therefrom, and any conflict in the evidence must be resolved in his favor. Moreover, [a] judgment n.o.v. should only be entered in a clear case and any doubts must be resolved in favor of the verdict winner. Further, a judge’s appraisement of evidence is not to be based on how he would have voted had he been a member of the jury, but on the facts as they come through the sieve of the jury’s deliberations.

“There are two bases upon which a judgment n.o.v. can be entered: one, the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and/or two, the evidence was such that no two reasonable minds could disagree that the outcome should have been rendered in favor of the movant. With the first a court reviews the record and concludes that even with all factual inferences decided adverse to the movant the law nonetheless requires a verdict in his favor, whereas with the second the court reviews the evidentiary record and concludes that the evidence was such that a verdict for the movant was beyond peradventure.

“Moure v. Raeuchle, 529 Pa. 394, 604 A.2d 1003, 1007 (1992). (citations and quotation marks omitted) With [560]*560these principles in mind, we turn to the issues appellant presents to this court.” 771 A.2d at 818.

In the instant case, defendants contend that they owed no duty to the plaintiff for which they could have been negligent in the performance of. Defendants also contend that the plaintiff did not prove that her mother’s eyes had actually been removed. In viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff as verdict winner, this court is mindful of the precedent established in Papieves v. Kelly, 437 Pa. 373, 263 A.2d 118 (1970) wherein it was held:

“As indicated above, section 868 of the Restatement provides that one who ‘wantonly mistreats’ or, acting without privilege, ‘intentionally withholds’ the body of a decedent is liable in tort to the member of the decedent’s family who is entitled to the disposition of the body. Comments a and b to section 868 state that such a cause of action ‘exists although there has been no harm except such harm to the feelings as is inseparable from the knowledge of the defendant’s conduct... The cause of action is primarily for mental suffering caused by the improper dealing with the body. It includes also the right to recover damages for physical harm, resulting from such mental suffering.’

“Other jurisdictions have recognized claims for mental suffering caused by the defendant’s wanton or intentional mishandling of the body of the decedent. Such mishandling of a body has been found to encompass, inter alia, the unlawful interment or disinterment of a body, intentional interference with a burial, the wanton [561]*561mutilation or unauthorized embalming of a corpse, and other intentional, reckless or wanton acts likely to cause severe emotional distress. See Sanford v. Ware, 191 Va. 43, 60 S.E.2d 10 (1950); Gostkowski v. Roman Catholic Church, 262 N.Y. 320, 186 N.E. 798 (1933); Stephens v. Waits, 53 Ga. App. 44, 184 S.E. 781 (1935); Alderman v. Ford, 146 Kan. 698, 72 P.2d 981 (1937); Sworski v. Simons, 208 Minn. 201, 293 N.W. 309 (1940); and Brownlee v. Pratt, 77 Ohio App. 533, 68 N.E.2d 798 (1946).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Sanford v. Ware
60 S.E.2d 10 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1950)
Moure v. Raeuchle
604 A.2d 1003 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Trimble v. Merloe
197 A.2d 457 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1964)
Campo v. St. Luke's Hospital
755 A.2d 20 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2000)
Petrasovits v. Kleiner
719 A.2d 799 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1998)
Goldberg Ex Rel. Goldberg v. Isdaner
780 A.2d 654 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Haines v. Raven Arms
640 A.2d 367 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1994)
Price v. Guy
735 A.2d 668 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1999)
Toogood v. Rogal
764 A.2d 552 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2000)
Haines v. Raven Arms, Donn's Inc.
652 A.2d 1280 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)
PAPIEVES Et Ux. v. Kelly
263 A.2d 118 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1970)
Kit v. Mitchell
771 A.2d 814 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Alderman v. Ford
72 P.2d 981 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1937)
Sworski v. Simons
293 N.W. 309 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1940)
Gostkowski v. Roman Catholic Church of Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary
186 N.E. 798 (New York Court of Appeals, 1933)
Brownlee v. Pratt
68 N.E.2d 798 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1946)
Gadbury v. Bleitz
233 P. 299 (Washington Supreme Court, 1925)
Stephens v. Waits
184 S.E. 781 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
57 Pa. D. & C.4th 556, 2001 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 194, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/van-zandt-v-holy-redeemer-hospital-pactcomplphilad-2001.