White v. Moody

554 N.E.2d 115, 51 Ohio App. 3d 16, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 2671
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 28, 1988
Docket86AP-1097
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 554 N.E.2d 115 (White v. Moody) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
White v. Moody, 554 N.E.2d 115, 51 Ohio App. 3d 16, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 2671 (Ohio Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

Bowman, J.

This is an appeal from the judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas after a jury determination that appellees Eleanor Roberts and Mary Nolze were negligent in their nursing care of the deceased, Noble Jackson, and that Jackson was contributorily negligent in causing her own death.

Appellant, Arnold White, as administrator of Noble Jackson’s estate, brought this action as a result of Jackson’s death. On May 15, 1979, Jackson, a twenty-one-year-old female, *17 was incarcerated at the Women’s Correctional Facility (“WCI”) located in Columbus, Ohio, and operated by the city of Columbus. Jackson had been arrested in Columbus on a charge of aggravated trafficking of an illegal substance and was incarcerated while awaiting trial. On June 3, 1979, Jackson was removed by ambulance from WCI and taken to a hospital where she died on June 4, 1979 of cardiopulmonary arrest caused by choriocarcinoma of her uterus, a type of cancer, which spread into her uterine veins and arteries and metastasized to her lungs, spleen and brain. Jackson had delivered a stillborn baby at home on April 17, 1979.

Appellant, as administrator of Jackson’s estate, brought suit against the city of Columbus, WCI’s superintendent, various other city officials, and the WCI doctor in 1979 for Jackson’s wrongful death and a survivor-ship action. In 1980, appellant added, as defendants, appellees, who were nurses employed at WCI while Jackson was confined there. The city of Columbus, city officials, the WCI superintendent and the WCI doctor eventually settled with appellant or were otherwise dismissed as parties, leaving ap-pellees to be tried on the complaint. Appellant requested compensatory damages, funeral expenses and punitive damages for Jackson’s beneficiaries for her wrongful death, and appellant requested compensatory damages, damages for pain and suffering and punitive damages for Jackson’s survival claim. Appellant additionally requested attorney fees and costs. Appellant demanded that all of these damages be paid by the appellees jointly and severally.

The trial was held beginning on August 28, 1986. Roberts and Nolze testified extensively as to their nursing practices at WCI and their treatment of Jackson during her incarceration at WCI. Appellees testified that at “pill call” Jackson had requested aspirin thirteen times and an antacid once during her seventeen-day incarceration. Both appellees admitted that they never asked Jackson why she wanted the aspirin, although they recalled that at some time she stated she had a headache. Appellees testified that the prisoners at WCI lined up during “pill call”, and requested nonprescription medications such as aspirin, antacid, or a laxative. Appellees also said that many of the inmates would attend “pill call” only for something to do. The “pill call” records entered into evidence and appellees’ testimony revealed that generally there was no record explaining why the inmates wanted the nonprescription drug, as in Jackson’s situation.

Appellees also testified that Jackson had requested a lower bunk on her arrival at WCI. Roberts, who worked the first shift, testified that, when a guard told her that Jackson wanted a lower bunk, she told the guard to tell Jackson that only the WCI doctor could assign lower bunks. Nolze testified that later Jackson asked Nolze, who worked second shift, for a lower bunk. Nolze said that when she asked Jackson why she wanted a lower bunk Jackson told her that she had delivered a baby at a hospital in Columbus. Nolze said she called the labor and delivery ward at the hospital where Jackson said she had delivered a baby and the hospital employee informed Nolze that there was no record of Jackson delivering a baby there. Nolze testified further that Jackson then told her that she had actually delivered her baby at home. Nolze said that Jackson did not tell her that the baby was stillborn or that Jackson had subsequently gone to the hospital for fainting and hemorrhaging on May 5, 1979, ten days before her incarceration at WCI. Jackson was placed on the “sick call” list to *18 see the WCI doctor on June 1, 1979 to request a bottom bunk.

On May 28, 1979, appellees testified that Jackson complained of feeling ill and appellees placed her in the cell block used for both medical observation and to punish inmates, as WCI did not have an infirmary. Roberts testified that the nurses’ office and infirmary were across the street from WCI where the administration building and men’s incarceration area were located. The women inmates stayed in a dormitory next to the cell block. The records indicate that Jackson was released from the cell block “per nurse”; however, neither of the appellees recalled releasing her.

Other women who were inmates at WCI, while Jackson was incarcerated there, testified that Jackson told them she was spitting up blood, had headaches and abdominal pains, her side hurt, and she had just had a baby. These former WCI inmates also said that Jackson could barely get up and down from her top bunk and that WCI continued to have Jackson do her clean-up duties. Jackson also told these inmates that no one at WCI would believe that she was sick. A few former WCI inmates stated that Roberts told other WCI employees that Jackson was faking illness.

One former WCI inmate testified that Roberts was called into the restroom when Jackson spit up blood in the sink and Roberts told Jackson that there was not enough blood to be significant and to inform her when Jackson really spit up a substantial amount of blood. Another former inmate testified that Jackson had spit up blood into her own hand at “pill call” to show one of the appellees. However, appellees stated at trial that they never knew Jackson was spitting up blood.

The WCI’s social worker also testified that Jackson told her that she had complained to the WCI nurse that she had been spitting up blood and the nurse said she probably only had the twenty-four-hour flu. The social worker told Jackson to put her complaint in writing and the social worker would give it to WCI’s superintendent. Jackson, however, told the social worker that she was afraid of being placed in the cell block and she never put her complaint in writing. The social worker did not talk to appellees regarding Jackson because she said the social workers had been told not to interfere in medical matters at WCI.

Jackson saw the WCI doctor at sick call on Friday, June 1, 1979. Roberts, who was present at sick call, did not tell the doctor about Jackson’s request for aspirin or headaches. Roberts did not tell the doctor that Jackson had been placed in the cell block on May 28,1979 because she was ill. The WCI doctor only had a card that had been completed by Nolze that said Jackson claimed she was six weeks postpartum. The word “claims” was underlined. Jackson also did not tell the WCI doctor that she was spitting up blood, having headaches and abdominal pain. Jackson apparently only told the doctor that she had a yellow vaginal discharge. The doctor did not give Jackson a bottom bunk, but he did prescribe a suppository. He did not perform a physical examination.

That Friday afternoon, after seeing the doctor, Jackson fainted in the WCI recreational room. When the guard called Roberts to inform her, she said she told the guards to remove Jackson to the cell block. The WCI social worker testified that the WCI superintendent had to call Roberts to request that she come to the cell block to examine Jackson.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
554 N.E.2d 115, 51 Ohio App. 3d 16, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 2671, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-moody-ohioctapp-1988.