Baptist Med. Center Montclair v. Whitfield
Citation | 950 So.2d 1121 |
Decision Date | 21 April 2006 |
Docket Number | 1041472. |
Parties | BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER MONTCLAIR v. Barbara T. WHITFIELD, as administratrix of the estate of Thelbert D. Whitfield, deceased. |
Court | Supreme Court of Alabama |
Appeal from the Jefferson Circuit Court, No. CV-02-5264, Houston Brown, J Mark W. Lee, Dorothy A. Powell, and James A. Wyatt III of Parsons, Lee & Juliano, P.C., Birmingham, for appellant.
Shay Samples and Bruce J. McKee of Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton, LLP, Birmingham, for appellee.
Baptist Medical Center Montclair appeals from the trial court's grant of a new trial following the return of a jury verdict in its favor. We affirm.
Dr. Scott Pennington admitted Thelbert Whitfield to Baptist Medical Center Montclair ("BMC"); Thelbert was suffering from gallstones and jaundice. Dr. Pennington is BMC's chairman of general surgery.
On January 15, 2001, Dr. Pennington removed Thelbert's gallbladder. Thelbert was discharged following the procedure, but he experienced problems and was re-hospitalized on January 21, 2001. On January 26, 2001, Dr. Pennington discovered that Thelbert had a leak in his gastrointestinal tract. Upon investigation, Dr. Pennington discovered that Thelbert's bile duct was leaking; Dr. Pennington drained and repaired the leak. On January 29, 2001, Thelbert appeared to have developed an "upper gastrointestinal bleed." Dr. Pennington gave Thelbert an infusion of blood and placed him in BMC's surgical-intensive-care unit. Dr. Leonard Ou-Tim, a gastroenterologist at BMC, performed an endoscopy on Thelbert but was unable to locate the source of the bleed.
Julie Davis, a registered nurse, was Thelbert's primary nurse on January 29, 2001, having begun her shift at 7:00 p.m. At approximately 7:30 p.m., Thelbert experienced a bloody bowel movement while he was lying on his bed. Davis reported the bloody bowel movement to the surgeon on call who, in response, instructed her to infuse Thelbert with two units of blood. At approximately 10:50 p.m., around the time the first unit of blood was fully transfused, Davis evaluated Thelbert and found his condition to be stable. Davis left the room to chart her assessment and order a second unit of blood for Thelbert. Soon after Davis left Thelbert's room, the monitor alarm in Thelbert's room was activated. Davis returned immediately to find that Thelbert had gotten out of his bed unassisted, had pulled out his intravenous tubes, and was sitting on a trash can while experiencing a bloody bowel movement. Davis and another nurse assisted Thelbert back into his bed. As they got him to his bed, Thelbert became unresponsive. Davis called for assistance, and the responding team attempted to resuscitate Thelbert. The resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful; Thelbert died shortly thereafter.
Dr. Kim Parker performed the autopsy on Thelbert. During the autopsy, the source of his gastrointestinal bleed was identified for the first time. Dr. Parker determined that Thelbert suffered from a Dieulafoy's malformation, also known as a Dieulafoy's lesion—a condition in which a lesion in an artery of the gastrointestinal tract causes gastrointestinal bleeding. Dr. Parker concluded from the autopsy that Thelbert had died from a massive gastrointestinal bleed. Dr. Pennington conferred with Dr. Parker shortly after the autopsy was completed and agreed with Dr. Parker's findings. On February 5, 2001, Dr. Pennington signed Thelbert's death certificate, noting "GI hemorrhage due to (or as a consequence of) Dieulafoy's lesion duodenum" as his cause of death.
On August 30, 2002, Barbara Whitfield, Thelbert's wife, as the administratrix and personal representative of Thelbert's estate, sued BMC, Montclair Surgical Associates, P.C. (Dr. Pennington's practice group), and Birmingham Gastroenterology Associates, P.C., asserting claims of negligence relating to Thelbert's death. On March 7, 2005, the day before trial, Whitfield voluntarily dismissed Montclair Surgical Associates, P.C., and Birmingham Gastroenterology Associates, P.C., from the action, leaving BMC as the only defendant.
In his opening statement, counsel for BMC implied that Whitfield had agreed to dismiss the charges against Montclair Surgical Associates on the condition that Dr. Pennington change his testimony so that it would be damaging to BMC. BMC's counsel also suggested that Whitfield made the deal because it was easier for the jury to return a large verdict against a corporation like BMC rather than a group of doctors. BMC's counsel stated:
Whitfield's attorney objected to the statement and the trial judge sustained his objection. No curative instruction was requested or given.
The trial court heard from a number of witnesses; however, only Dr. Pennington's testimony is relevant to this appeal. Dr. Pennington testified at trial as a witness for Whitfield. During direct examination, Whitfield's counsel instructed Dr. Pennington to read portions of the transcript of his deposition taken on April 28, 2004. In his deposition, Dr. Pennington opined that Thelbert's death was caused by his getting out of bed unassisted, resulting in a drop in blood pressure and heart rate, which in turn caused a cardiac arrest or arrhythmia from which he could not be resuscitated. At trial, Dr. Pennington testified to the same cause of death. Dr. Pennington also stated at trial that he stood by the theory he had advanced in his deposition as to Thelbert's cause of death. In response to BMC's suggestion during the trial that his opinion as to Thelbert's cause of death changed after he executed Thelbert's death certificate, Dr. Pennington explained that his opinion of Thelbert's cause of death had not changed from the time he executed Whitfield's death certificate to the time of his deposition and then his trial testimony. When Whitfield's counsel asked him to explain why he wrote "GI hemorrhage due to (or as a consequence of) Dieulafoy's lesion duodenum" as the cause of death on Thelbert's death certificate rather than cardiac arrest, Pennington stated:
During direct examination of Dr. Pennington, Whitfield's counsel also addressed the remarks by BMC's counsel in his opening statement concerning a deal between Dr. Pennington and Whitfield:
In closing arguments, BMC's counsel again stated that Whitfield had made a deal with Dr. Pennington pursuant to which the charges against his practice group would be dismissed in exchange for his testimony against BMC because, counsel stated, the jury was more likely to return a large verdict against a corporation like BMC rather than a group of doctors. BMC's counsel made the following statement during his closing argument:
Whitfield's counsel did not object.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of BMC, and the trial court entered a judgment on the verdict. Whitfield moved for a new trial. After a hearing, the trial court granted Whitfield's motion for a new trial. The trial court stated in its order granting a new trial:
"This Court finds that those arguments presented in [BMC's] closing argument were improper, prejudicial, inflammatory, and could not reasonably be cured by...
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