Culbertson v. Mernitz

• Decision Date: 29 October 1992
• Docket Number: No. 25S03-9210-CV-876,25S03-9210-CV-876
• Citation: 602 N.E.2d 98
• Parties: Patty Jo CULBERTSON and Jack Culbertson, Appellants, (Plaintiffs Below) v. Dr. Roland B. MERNITZ, Appellee. (Defendant Below)
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 98

602 N.E.2d 98

Patty Jo CULBERTSON and Jack Culbertson, Appellants, (Plaintiffs Below) v. Dr. Roland B. MERNITZ, Appellee. (Defendant Below)

No. 25S03-9210-CV-876.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Oct. 29, 1992.

Patrick M. O'Brien, Alastair J. Warr, Steers Sullivan McNamar & Rogers, Indianapolis, for appellants.

Mark W. Baeverstad, Hunt Suedhoff Borror & Eilbacher, Fort Wayne, for appellee.

ON PETITION TO TRANSFER

KRAHULIK, Justice.

Roland B. Mernitz, M.D., (Appellee-Defendant) seeks transfer from the Court of Appeals' reversal of a summary judgment entered in his favor. Culbertson v. Mernitz (1992), Ind.App., 591 N.E.2d 1040. The issue squarely presented in this petition is whether expert medical testimony is required to establish the standard of care of health care providers on the issue of informed consent. Because this Court has not previously written on this subject, we accept transfer.

The facts of the case are as follows. Dr. Mernitz first saw Patty Jo Culbertson on March 28, 1988. Her chief complaint was that of uncontrollable leakage of urine and discharge from the vagina. After performing a physical examination, Dr. Mernitz determined that she was suffering from urinary stress incontinence due to a mild cystocele, which is a bulging of the bladder into the vagina. Additionally, he determined that she had cervicitis, which was causing the vaginal discharge. Thirdly, he found that she had multiple fibroid tumors of the uterus. His recommendation was that she should undergo a surgical procedure known as a MMK procedure ¹ in order to suspend the bladder and either a hysterectomy or cryosurgery to freeze the infected tip of the cervix. Dr. Mernitz contends that he advised her of the general risks of any surgery, viz. infection, bleeding, and death, and that, with respect to the bladder suspension, he explained to her the risk that the procedure could fail and the possibility that she would be unable to void. Additionally, with respect to the cryosurgery he contends he told her that she would have severe vaginal discharge for two weeks and a milder discharge for six weeks thereafter. Mrs. Culbertson, on the other hand, denies that any of these risks were explained to her. Both parties, however, agree that Dr. Mernitz did not advise her of a risk that the cervix could become adhered to the wall of the vagina.

Following this office visit, Mrs. Culbertson decided to proceed with the bladder suspension and cryosurgery. She was admitted to the hospital and underwent these procedures. Post-surgically, Mrs. Culbertson's cervix adhered to the wall of her vagina. Dr. Mernitz prescribed medication for this condition, but Mrs. Culbertson became dissatisfied with his care and saw another surgeon who eventually performed a total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy which involves the removal of both ovaries, and another bladder suspension.

Following this surgery, Mr. and Mrs. Culbertson filed a proposed complaint against Dr. Mernitz with the Indiana Department of Insurance in four counts. Count I alleged that the adherence of the cervix to the vagina was caused by negligent cautery of the cervix. Count II alleged that Dr. Mernitz failed to inform Mrs. Culbertson of the alternatives to surgery and the inherent risks and complications of surgery. Count III alleged that Dr. Mernitz refused to treat and abandoned Mrs. Culbertson. And Count IV alleged a claim for loss of consortium by Mr. Culbertson.

A medical review panel was convened and, after submission of evidence to it, issued its written opinion. On Count I the panel unanimously found that there was no evidence to support the allegation that the surgery had been negligently performed. Similarly, it found no evidence to support the allegation in Count III that Dr. Mernitz had abandoned Mrs. Culbertson. With respect to the informed consent issue alleged in Count II, the panel ruled:

The Panel determines that [Dr. Mernitz] did not advise [Mrs. Culbertson] of the complication of cervical adhesion to the vagina; the Panel further determines that such non-disclosure does not constitute a failure to comply with the appropriate standard of care, as such complication is not considered a risk of such surgery requiring disclosure to the patient.

The Culbertsons filed their civil action in a complaint that mirrored the allegations of the proposed complaint. After answering this complaint, Dr. Mernitz moved for summary judgment relying on the expert opinion issued by the medical review panel. The Culbertsons did not file an affidavit or other evidence in opposition to the motion for summary judgment, but argued to the trial court that the "prudent patient" standard should be utilized in evaluating informed consent claims. The trial court entered summary judgment on all four counts. The Culbertsons appealed to the Court of Appeals on the informed consent issue and argued that expert medical testimony is not necessary to make a prima facie case of lack of informed consent because the "prudent patient" standard is the law in this State and such standard does not contemplate the necessity of expert medical testimony.

The Court of Appeals agreed with the Culbertsons that the trial court had erroneously entered summary judgment on Counts II and IV because an issue of fact remained as to whether the risk of cervical adhesion to the vagina was a "material risk". 591 N.E.2d at 1042. The court further held that that issue was a question for the jury which does not require expert testimony as to materiality, although expert testimony might be required to establish the existence and extent of the risk. Id. Judge Hoffman disagreed and filed a dissenting opinion in which he set forth his belief that a physician must disclose those risks which a reasonably prudent physician would disclose under the circumstances. Id. at 1043. He further reasoned that the situation in the instant case was clearly outside the realm of a layperson's comprehension, and that expert testimony was required to establish whether the disclosure was reasonable. He concluded that Culbertson's failure to present any expert testimony contrary to the panel's express findings on this issue made entry of summary judgment in favor of Dr. Mernitz proper. Because of the divergence of opinions in the Court of Appeals on this precise issue, we must determine the role, if any, played by expert medical opinion in resolving claims of medical malpractice premised upon a failure to obtain an informed consent.

The courts, historically, have established the standard of care required of physicians when treating patients. The law requires that a physician treating a patient possess and exercise that degree of skill and care ordinarily possessed and exercised by a physician treating such maladies in the same or similar locality. Worster v. Caylor (1953), 231 Ind. 625, 110 N.E.2d 337 (overruled on other grounds). ² In order for a lay jury to know whether a physician complied with the legally prescribed standard of care, expert testimony has generally been held to be required. Id., 231 Ind. at 630, 110 N.E.2d at 340. This requirement was premised on the logical belief that a non-physician could not know what a reasonably prudent physician would or would not have done under the circumstances of any given case. Therefore, an expert familiar with the practice of medicine needed to establish what a reasonably prudent physician would or would not have done in treating a patient in order to set before the jury a depiction of the reasonably prudent physician against which to judge the actions of the defendant physician. An exception was created in cases of res ipsa loquitur on the premise that in such cases a lay jury did not need guidance from a physician familiar with medical practice as to what was required of a reasonably prudent physician because the deficiency of practice "spoke for itself." Kranda v. Houser-Norborg Med. Corp. (1981), Ind.App., 419 N.E.2d 1024, 1042. This was the settled law of most American jurisdictions, including Indiana, prior to the early 1970's when two cases on the opposite coasts carved out an additional exception to the requirement of expert medical testimony in the area of "informed consent".

In Cobbs v. Grant (1972), 8 Cal.3d 229, 104 Cal.Rptr. 505, 502 P.2d 1, the California Supreme Court held that expert testimony is not required to establish a physician's duty to disclose risks of a proposed treatment. The premise of this opinion was that placing unlimited discretion in the medical community to determine what risks to disclose was irreconcilable with the basic right of a patient to make the ultimate informed decision regarding a course of treatment. The court reasoned that a physician is in the best position to appreciate the risks inherent in the proposed procedure, the risks inherent in deciding not to undergo the proposed procedure, as well as the chances of a successful outcome. The court held that once this information had been disclosed, however, the expert function of the physician had been performed and the decisional task of weighing the positive benefits of the proposed procedure against the negative possibilities inherent in the procedure passed solely and exclusively to the patient. Finally, the court opined that a jury is in the best position to determine whether the physician gave the patient the information needed by the patient to weigh the alternatives and make the ultimate decision of whether to proceed with the proposed treatment.

In the same year, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided Canterbury v. Spence (1972), 464 F.2d 772, cert. den., 409 U.S. 1064, 93 S.Ct. 560, 34 L.Ed.2d 518. In Canterbury, the court also held that expert testimony was not required to establish a physician's duty to disclose risks of a proposed treatment. It reasoned that while an expert may be required to identify for the jury the risks of the proposed...