Cahoon v. Cummings
| Decision Date | 01 September 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 79S05-0009-CV-513.,79S05-0009-CV-513. |
| Citation | 734 N.E.2d 535 |
| Parties | Jeffrey S. CAHOON, M.D. and Shari A. Kohne and Edward L. Kennedy, Co-Executors of the Estate of Robert W. Kohne, M.D., Appellants (Defendants Below), v. Glessie Joann CUMMINGS, wife of the deceased, William T. Cummings, Appellee (Plaintiff Below). |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Kevin C. Schiferl, Robert W. Wright, Julia Blackwell Gelinas, Steven J. Cohen, Kathryn A. Elias, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorneys for Appellants.
Terry Kaiser Park, Indianapolis, Indiana, Attorney for Appellee.
Defense Trial Counsel, Ross E. Rudolph, James D. Johnson, Evansville, Indiana, Amicus Curiae.
Indiana Trial Lawyer Association, Jerry Garau, Mary A. Findling, Indianapolis, Indiana, Amicus Curiae.
ON PETITION TO TRANSFER
Mayhue v. Sparkman, 653 N.E.2d 1384, 1388-89 (Ind.1995), held that where a patient's likelihood of recovery is less than fifty percent, but negligent treatment increased the risk of loss, a claim may be asserted for that increased risk. We grant transfer and hold that damages for such a claim are to be measured in proportion to the increased risk, and not by the full extent of the ultimate injury.
In December of 1991, William T. Cummings sought the treatment of his family doctor, Dr. Robert W. Kohne, for heartburn-like symptoms. Kohne ordered x-rays of Cummings' esophagus, stomach, and small bowel. The x-rays were interpreted by Dr. Jeffrey S. Cahoon, who diagnosed Cummings with a hiatal hernia and reflux esophagitis. Cummings asked Kohne whether surgery would correct the problem, but Kohne told him he could not have surgery "at [his] weight." Instead, Kohne directed Cummings to lose weight, refrain from eating greasy foods, and sleep sitting up. In July 1992, after Cummings had lost about eighty pounds, he returned to Kohne. Cummings' insurance carrier had changed, so Kohne arranged for further consultation and treatment at the V.A. hospital in Danville, Illinois. Before Cummings could obtain treatment, however, he admitted himself to the emergency room of St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Lafayette, Indiana with a perforated esophagus that had hemorrhaged. Cummings was then diagnosed as suffering from esophageal cancer. Surgery and subsequent chemotherapy were tried, but the cancer had already spread to Cummings' lymph nodes and liver. He died in August of 1993.
Cummings filed a proposed complaint with the Indiana Department of Insurance in March of 1993. The complaint as amended charged Kohne with negligent failure to diagnose and Cahoon with negligent misdiagnosis of Cummings' condition. The Medical Review Panel concluded that the doctors had failed to follow the appropriate standard of care, but that their conduct "was not a factor of the resultant damages." After Cummings' death, his wife, Joann, brought suit alleging damages in the form of medical expenses, lost income, loss of substantial chance of survival, death, and loss of consortium.
Kohne died in March of 1996, prior to trial. Both he and Cahoon admitted breach of his duty of care to Cummings, but each denied that his breach proximately caused Cummings' damages. After a three-day trial in late September and early October of 1997, a jury found in favor of Joann, and awarded her $194,000 from Kohne's estate and $75,000 from Cahoon. Joann filed a post-trial motion for prejudgment interest, which was denied as to Kohne, but granted as to Cahoon in the amount of $18,443.84.
All parties appealed. Joann challenged the trial court's denial of prejudgment interest with respect to Kohne. The defendants challenged the trial court's jury instructions, arguing that: (1) the jury was incorrectly instructed that causation should be evaluated under the Mayhue standard; (2) the jury was incorrectly instructed that full damages could be awarded if the defendants' conduct was found to be a substantial factor in bringing about Cummings' death; (3) the trial court erroneously gave instructions on both wrongful death and survival; and (4) the survival instruction contained an incorrect statement of law in that it referenced "loss of chance" approvingly. Kohne also contended that the trial court had erroneously admitted evidence that he had altered Cummings' medical records.
The Court of Appeals concluded that these jury instructions were proper in every respect, save that the survival instruction erroneously recited "loss of chance" as the law in Indiana. See Cahoon v. Cummings, 715 N.E.2d 1, 9 (Ind.Ct.App.1999). The Court of Appeals also concluded that the trial court erred in admitting evidence that Kohne had altered Cummings' medical records. See id. at 17. With regard to prejudgment interest, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's award of prejudgment interest with respect to Cahoon, and affirmed its denial of prejudgment interest with respect to Kohne. See id. at 17-18.
All parties seek transfer. We conclude: (1) the trial court correctly applied the causation standard of Mayhue in the wrongful death context; (2) it was reversible error to instruct the jury that it should award full damages if it found that defendants' negligence was a substantial factor in Cummings' death; (3) the doctrine of election of remedies does not preclude Joann from pursuing both a wrongful death and survivorship action; (4) the instruction regarding Cummings' survival action did not contain a misstatement of law requiring reversal; (5) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence that Kohne had altered Cummings' medical records; and (6) the trial court erroneously concluded that Joann was not entitled to prejudgment interest as against Kohne.
In Mayhue v. Sparkman, 653 N.E.2d 1384, 1388-89 (1995), this Court held that a plaintiff is not precluded from bringing a medical malpractice claim against a negligent doctor merely because the plaintiff is unable to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the doctor's conduct was the proximate cause of the resulting injury. We adopted Section 323 of the Restatement of Torts, which reads:
This doctrine permits recovery from a defendant whose negligence significantly increases the probability of the ultimate harm, even if the likelihood of incurring that injury was greater than fifty percent in the absence of the defendant's negligence. Here, as in Mayhue, all experts agreed that Cummings would probably not have survived even if he had been properly diagnosed and treated in December of 1991. However, Cummings' expert testified that Cummings would have had a statistically significant chance, perhaps twenty-five to thirty percent, of surviving his esophageal cancer if it had been diagnosed at Cummings' first visit to Kohne. The defendants maintain that the relaxed causation standard of Mayhue is inapplicable in a wrongful death case because the wrongful death statute, by its terms, demands that the defendant's actions be the proximate cause of the death of the victim. The relevant provision reads:
When the death of one is caused by the wrongful act or omission of another, the personal representative of the former may maintain an action therefor against the latter, if the former might have maintained an action had he or she ... lived, against the latter for an injury for the same act or omission.
Ind.Code § 34-23-1-1 (1998).1 The Court of Appeals held that the causation standard of Mayhue applied in the context of the wrongful death action, concluding that: "[T]he intent of the wrongful death statute was to allow an action to be brought by the decedent's personal representative against a defendant who may be held legally liable for the death, regardless of the mechanism of liability." Cahoon, 715 N.E.2d at 7. We agree with the Court of Appeals that the statute is consistent with the Mayhue standard of causation. The wrongful death statute requires causation, but it does not spell out what is meant by that term and does not specify that a plaintiff must establish proximate causation. The trial court instructed the jury on the causation standard of Mayhue as follows: "In this case you must first determine if the Defendant's negligence increased the risk of harm to Ted Cummings, and whether the increased risk was a substantial factor in his death on August 15, 1993." This is an accurate recitation of the causation standard of Mayhue. Mayhue identified the reasons to permit recovery in a loss of consortium case for increased risk of the ultimate injury—in that case death. Principally, to deny recovery is to encourage disregard for the proper care of more seriously ill patients. Those with serious problems but also a significant chance of recovery are entitled to the same level of care as less threatened patients, and their caregivers should be held to the same standard. Accordingly, this instruction was properly given.
Finally, the defendants note that Mayhue presented a loss of consortium claim and urge this Court to limit Mayhue to its facts. Although it is true that Mayhue involved a loss of consortium claim, the policy underlying Mayhue is equally compelling here. We see no basis to allow a relaxed standard of causation in the loss of consortium context, but not the wrongful death context. The wrongful death statute is intended to provide economic support to survivors, and a loss of consortium claim compensates the plaintiff for loss of companionship of the decedent. The issue...
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