Blatz v. Allina Health System, C9-00-826.

• Decision Date: 06 February 2001
• Docket Number: No. C9-00-826.,C9-00-826.
• Citation: 622 N.W.2d 376
• Parties: Mary BLATZ, et al., Respondents, v. ALLINA HEALTH SYSTEM, d/b/a HealthSpan Transportation Services, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Court of Appeals

622 N.W.2d 376

Mary BLATZ, et al., Respondents, v. ALLINA HEALTH SYSTEM, d/b/a HealthSpan Transportation Services, Appellant.

No. C9-00-826.

Court of Appeals of Minnesota.

February 6, 2001.

Chris A. Messerly, Gary L. Wilson, Anne E. Workman, Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P., Minneapolis, MN, (for respondents).

Kay Nord Hunt, Lommen, Nelson, Cole & Stageberg, P.A., Minneapolis, MN; and David C. Hutchinson, Mary H. Alcorn, Geraghty, O'Loughlin & Kenney, P.A., St. Paul, MN, (for appellant).

Steven R. Schwegman, William V. Faerber, Quinlivan & Hughes, P.A., St. Cloud, MN, (for amicus curiae Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association).

William M. Hart, Erica Gutmann Strohl, Meagher & Geer P.L.L.P., Minneapolis, MN, (for amici curiae Minnesota Hospital and Healthcare Partnership, Minnesota Medical Association, and Minnesota Medical Group Management Association).

Thomas Fraser, Kathleen M. Miller, Fredrikson & Byron, P.A., Minneapolis, MN, (for amici curiae Minnesota Ambulance Association and North Central EMS Institute).

Considered and decided by PETERSON, Presiding Judge, LANSING, Judge, and STONEBURNER, Judge.

OPINION

LANSING, Judge

Allina Health System, doing business as HealthSpan Transportation Services, contracts to provide paramedic and ambulance services to Jordan, Minnesota, and surrounding communities. A Scott County jury found Allina negligent in responding to a 911 call from the Jordan home of Mary Blatz and Patrick Sherman. The jury further found that Allina's negligence was a direct cause of Blatz's substantial injuries. Allina moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial and also requested a Schwartz hearing to inquire into the truthfulness of two jurors' voir dire responses. The district court denied the motions, and Allina appeals, contending that the evidence does not support a finding of negligence or causation and that the district court abused its discretion in excluding evidence, denying a mistrial, and declining to hold a Schwartz hearing and erred in instructing the jury. We affirm.

FACTS

In the summer of 1995, Mary Blatz lived at 18555 Halifax Lane in Jordan with her husband, Patrick Sherman, and their two children. On the morning of June 18, 1995, shortly after awakening, Blatz told Sherman she was having trouble breathing. Three days earlier, Blatz had had arthroscopic knee surgery, for which she was taking antibiotics and pain medication. Blatz told Sherman she thought he should call a doctor. Sherman asked whether he should call their family physician or 911, and when Blatz did not immediately answer, Sherman dialed 911.

The Scott County 911 tape indicates that Sherman's call was received at approximately 8:50 a.m. Sherman told the dispatcher that his wife was "having severe chest pains in a bad way right now." The dispatcher confirmed the family's address and telephone number, notified the Scott County Sheriff's Office, and notified the HealthSpan dispatcher. The HealthSpan dispatcher, in turn, notified HealthSpan paramedics, and the ambulance was en route at 8:53 a.m.

Blatz and Sherman's 13-year-old son, Lucas, alarmed at his mother's condition, independently called 911 at 8:55 a.m. The Scott County operator transferred Lucas to the HealthSpan dispatcher. Lucas took the phone to his father, and the dispatcher began giving Sherman "pre-arrival instructions." The dispatcher asked Sherman to count out loud the number of times that Blatz breathed while the dispatcher watched the clock. When Sherman indicated that Blatz had not taken a breath for 15 seconds, the dispatcher instructed Sherman to begin giving Blatz CPR. Sherman had just begun administering CPR when Scott County Deputy Brian Wondra arrived between 9:03 and 9:04 a.m. Sherman testified that up to the time the deputy arrived, Blatz was breathing, but taking deep, labored breaths.

The deputy had not previously driven to the end of the lane where the Blatz-Sherman house is located, but had no problem finding the house. On arrival, he made a primary survey of Blatz's condition and determined that she was not breathing and had no heartbeat. Because the positive-pressure airway mask was missing from the deputy's oxygen kit, he could not administer oxygen to Blatz. Instead, he and Sherman continued to perform CPR until the paramedics arrived.

The paramedics did not have a problem locating Halifax Lane. They turned on Halifax and proceeded north toward the Blatz-Sherman house. Halifax extends north from 190th Street for approximately one-half mile and has four driveways marked by mailboxes. The address numbers are in decreasing order as one travels north on Halifax, going from 18856 to 18681 to 18595 to 18555, the Blatz-Sherman number. When the paramedics arrived at the third mailbox, they could not see the Blatz-Sherman mailbox, which was about 260 feet ahead of them in a cul-de-sac, but they could see the cul-de-sac. To see the mailbox and the post with the house numbers, they would have had to proceed about 50 feet past the third mailbox.

The paramedics concluded that Halifax Lane ended at the cul-de-sac and thought they had missed the Blatz-Sherman driveway. Their map was not helpful because it showed Halifax Lane ending in a straight line at the top of the page. The paramedics knew that the numbers generally decreased as they went north, but apparently misread the first mailbox on Halifax Lane and thought either the houses were not numbered in the usual order or they had the wrong address. Rather than proceeding to the end of Halifax and turning around in the cul-de-sac, the paramedics did a three-point turn and started south on Halifax toward 190th Street. They saw no mailbox with the 18555 number, but continued out onto 190th and turned east to check the address of a house on a lane off 190th Street. They also called the dispatcher to confirm the Blatz-Sherman address.

The paramedics determined that the house on 190th was not the Blatz-Sherman house. The dispatcher confirmed that 18555 Halifax was the right address and told them the house must be between 190th and the end of Halifax Lane. They proceeded back down Halifax, and this time they continued all the way to the cul-de-sac. Once they turned into the cul-de-sac, they could see the Blatz-Sherman mailbox, the driveway, and the deputy's car.

The paramedics estimated the diversion took about one and one-half minutes. A neighbor who saw the ambulance pass by testified the diversion took between three and five minutes. Another neighbor who also saw the ambulance testified the time elapsed by the diversion was "at least two minutes." Mary Blatz's sister, Aimee Blatz, testified that one of the paramedics said at the hospital that the navigation error took "maybe about four minutes."

When the paramedics arrived at the house between 9:08 and 9:09 a.m., Blatz still had no heartbeat and was not breathing. The paramedics inserted an oropharyngeal airway and gave Blatz 100% oxygen; they also established an IV line. One paramedic testified that within three minutes of their arrival, the monitor showed perfusion—that the heart was pumping and the blood was flowing. The other paramedic testified that Blatz's color improved within 30 to 60 seconds and her pulse returned within one to two minutes.

Blatz remained in a coma for approximately four weeks. No one has been able to determine what caused her initial cardiopulmonary arrest. But the arrest caused an anoxic brain injury that resulted in a severe loss of mental and physical capacity. Blatz is permanently disabled, is incapable of caring for herself, and lives in a nursing home. The medical evidence uniformly indicated that her condition will not improve. By January 2000, Blatz had incurred medical expenses of about $469,000.

Blatz's theory of recovery at trial was that Allina's employees were negligent because "a reasonably prudent driver" would have gone "the short distance further to a clearly visible turnaround or cul-de-sac," where the Blatz-Sherman address was clearly displayed on the mailbox post, rather than make a "three- or four-point turnaround in the middle of the street" and go back to 190th Street. On the damage issue, Blatz's witnesses included a physician who works as assistant director of a hospital's emergency department. The witnesses testified that if the paramedics had not been delayed for the time it took to drive to 190th Street and back, they would have arrived at the Blatz-Sherman household approximately two to five minutes earlier. According to the physician's testimony, this time period was within the window of opportunity in which Blatz could have been revived and irreversible brain damage could have been prevented.

Allina's defense theory rested on the testimony of two expert witnesses, a physician specializing in neurology and a physician specializing in pulmonary and respiratory disorders. Both expressed the opinion that the irreversible brain damage was complete before the deputy's arrival, and thus the paramedics' initial inability to locate the house had no effect on the brain injury Blatz suffered. On the breach-of-duty issue, Allina offered the testimony of two expert witnesses on professional standards of ambulance drivers, but the court excluded the evidence after ruling that the allegedly negligent conduct was within the knowledge of laypersons.

During trial, Allina moved for a mistrial, alleging that the testimony of Aimee Blatz on the paramedic's statement that the diversion took four minutes was not properly disclosed to Allina. At the close of Blatz's case-in-chief, Allina moved for a directed verdict. The district court denied both motions.

The jury found that Allina was negligent in responding to the 911 call and that this negligence was a direct cause of Blatz's injuries. Allina brought posttrial motions for JNOV and a new trial. Allina also requested a Schwartz hearing to determine if two jurors had truthfully answered voir dire questions....