Davis v. Wilson, 534
| Decision Date | 23 July 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 534,534 |
| Citation | 265 N.C. 139,143 S.E.2d 107 |
| Parties | Earl K. DAVIS, Administrator of the Estate of Eva D. Davis, deceased, v. Thomas B. WILSON, M.D., Albert L. Chasson, M.D., and Arthur E. Davis, M.D. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Bailey & Ragsdale by George R. Ragsdale, Raleigh, for plaintiff appellant.
Young, Moore & Henderson by J. C. Moore, Raleigh, for defendant appellees.
This is a summary of plaintiff's evidence:
Plaintiff's intestate, Eva D. Davis, who was his wife, was admitted in Rex Hospital, Raleigh, North Carolina, as a patient to have a surgical operation for removal of an ulcer. On 24 September 1963 in Rex Hospital, Dr. L. Gordon Sinclair, a surgeon, performed an operation on Mrs. Davis for a sub-total gastrectomv vagotomy for ulcer. The day before her operation a requisition to cross-match blood for Mrs. Davis was sent to Frances W. Smith in the laboratory of Rex Hospital where the hospital's blood bank was. Dr. John C. Doerr, a physician and a specialist in anesthesiology practicing in Rex Hospital, attended Mrs. Davis in the operating room, and transfused into her arteries and veins blood from donor 1738. There were no undue complications, and Mrs. Davis went through the surgery quite well, and went to the recovery room in excellent condition.
About 4:60 p. m. that afternoon, or some two or four hours after the operation, Dr. Sinclair went to the recovery room to see Mrs. Davis, and observed that urine coming through the catheter was thick and black, which indicated to him that she had experienced a severe blood transfusion reaction. The appearance of dark fluid coming through the catheter means the blood of the patient and the blood of the donor have been fighting, and that the blood cells are broken down and excreted by the kidneys. In an endeavor to stop the oozing of blood, about 6 p. m. he opened her abdomen again. Being unable to control the oozing of blood by any surgical maneuver, he packed the area hoping to control the bleeding. During the second operation she was given more blood and drugs, and her blood pressure came up to about normal. During the end of the second operation, Mrs. Davis had a cardiac arrest and her heart stopped. He started it again by external massage. Mrs. Davis was carried from the operating room again to the recovery room. At that time she looked fairly well. This lasted a short time. She grew worse, and died at 9:18 p. m.
Dr. Sinclair testified in effect that a blood transfusion reaction is caused when a patient receives blood incompatible with his own. That Mrs. Davis was given two pints of blood during the first operation, and that she had at least two or three additional pints of blood during the second operation. That the typing and cross-matching of blood is done in the blood bank at Rex Hospital. The blood is sent with a marked slip, and there is a corresponding slip on the patient's chart which may be compared with the slip on the container of blood to see if they are identical. That he relies on the slips that the blood had been typed in the pathology laboratory at Rex Hospital.
Dr. Sinclair also testified to the effect that, in his opinion, the three doctor defendants are well-qualified pathologists, and that as to the technical side of Frances W. Smith's work 'he would be delighted for her to cross-match his blood.'
Frances W. Smith works in the blood bank at Rex Hospital as a medical technologist. She has had special training in this field, and has worked in the laboratory at Rex Hospital for five years. Her duties are processing blood, cross-matching blood from donors, and making it available for patients. In September 1963 she typed blood for Mrs. Eva Davis, determined what her blood type was, cross-matched some other person's blood with hers, and found that it was compatible with her blood. That the type blood was 'O'. She does not know whether she typed the blood in container number 1738, but she did place the name of Mrs. Eva Davis on that container. Francis W. Smith was asked on direct examination, 'how it happened that she placed Mrs. Davis's name on that container?' She testified as follows:
This is a summary of the testimony of Joseph E. Barnes, director of Rex Hospital:
Rex Hospital is a corporation, whose operations are controlled by a board of trustees. He is next in order of control as director of Rex Hospital. The hospital is divided into various departments, one of which is the laboratory department, which is generally in charge of the typing and cross-matching of blood. Dr. Thomas B. Wilson is chief of the laboratory department or chief pathologist. Dr. Wilson was employed by the board of trustees of Rex Hospital to provide adequate organization, both professional and nonprofessional, for the laboratory of the hospital. Defendant Doctors Albert L. Chasson and Arthur E. Davis are associated in the laboratory department with Dr. Wilson. Rex Hospital does not have a relationship with all three of these doctors, but has a relationship only with Dr. Wilson. He and Dr. Wilson have a dual responsibility for the employment of personnel in the pathology department. He is not competent to pass upon the professional qualifications of applicants for work in the laboratory department. He and Dr. Wilson participate in the recruitment together, but the selection is made by Dr. Wilson. Dr. Wilson delegates the work and the details to the employees under him. Dr. Wilson receives by arrangement with Rex Hospital a percentage of the gross proceeds of the laboratory, which includes a percentage of the gross proceeds for the typing and cross-matching of blood. The charges for services rendered to patients in the pathology department are sent to the business office of Rex Hospital, where they are posted to the accounts of the patients. Based upon these records, Dr. Wilson's percentage is computed. Dr. Wilson divides this gross percentage among his associates.
This is a summary of the testimony of Dr. Wilson, who was called and testified as a witness for plaintiff, except when quoted: He is a physician and practices at Rex Hospital as a pathologist. He is at the top of the pathology department by reason of seniority. Next to him is Dr. Chasson, a pathologist in this department, who has specific responsibility over the blood bank in the department. This responsibility is also shared by himself and Dr. Davis, another pathologist in the department. He is 'responsibile for the overall laboratory with the thorough understanding that those responsibilities must, however, be shared equally by the two other pathologists.' As a member of the laboratory department, he has supervisory responsibility for the conduct and work of Frances W. Smith. He has liberty to conduct his practice. 'As far as the relationship of the laboratory is concerned, which is a part of the hospital of course, my conducting, my management within that sphere must come under the policies of the hospital which are indicated through the director of the hospital and the board of trustees.' An agreed percentage of the gross proceeds from the laboratory department available to the pathologists is divided by mutual agreement between Doctors Chasson, Davis, and himself, and Rex Hospital sends each one of them separate cheques in payment. Rex Hospital has an agreement with Doctors Chasson and Davis through him as senior pathologist. He has supervisory administrative responsibility for the conduct of the personnel of the pathology department. The pathology department is composed of several sub-departments. In each of these sub-departments there is a technologist who has had from five to ten years of experience in technology. There are a senior technologist and three pathologists.
All technologists and clerical personnel connected with the laboratory are interviewed by the laboratory personnel to determine their qualifications, and if their qualifications are satisfactory, they are sent down to the personnel office of Rex Hospital for the completion of their employment. 'He passes on the medical or technical qualifications of personnel in the laboratory, but that the final approval as to the need or the opening or the salary is Mr. Barnes'; that if he felt that if the department needed a technician tomorrow he could recommend that a technician be added, but that the ultimate approval would be Mr. Barnes'.' Frances W. Smith and the other technicians in the pathology department were paid for their services by Rex Hospital. He never paid Frances W. Smith anything.
He recalls interviewing Frances W. Smith when she applied to Rex Hospital for a job. She had been...
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