Dollins v. Hartford Acc. & Indem. Co.
| Decision Date | 06 March 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 5--5796,5--5796 |
| Citation | 477 S.W.2d 179,252 Ark. 13 |
| Parties | Louis A. DOLLINS et al., Appellants, v. HARTFORD ACCIDENT & INDEMNITY CO., Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Whetstone & Whetstone, Little Rock, for appellants.
Smith, Williams, Friday, Eldredge & Clark, Little Rock, for appellee.
Appellant contends that the circuit court erred in directing a verdict against him in his suit, individually and as administrator of his wife's estate, against the appellee as liability insurance carrier for St. Vincent's Infirmary in Little Rock. Appellant's complaint sought recovery for damages sustained by appellant's wife, Bertie Evelyn Dollins, as the result of a fall while she was a patient in the hospital. Mrs. Dollins was originally a plaintiff in the action, but she died before the trial from causes unrelated to her fall.
On August 13, 1970, Mrs. Dollins suffered a stroke. She was taken to St. Vincent's Infirmary for treatment, where she was kept in the intensive care unit for 14 days. On August 27, 1970, she was placed in a semiprivate room. Medication was being given her for the prevention and control of seizures and the four side rails on her bed were raised. No rails or other restraints were provided across the foot of the bed. On August 28, at 11:00 p.m., Mrs. Sandra DeLeuil, a registered nurse employed by the hospital, came on duty as the nurse in charge of the unit in which Mrs. Dollins was a patient. After a routine check of Mrs. Dollins' room at 2:00 a.m. on August 29, this nurse noted on the patient's chart: The nurse gave the patient the anti-convulsant medication which had been prescribed and left the room. At 3:35 a.m. Mrs. Dollins was found on the floor at the foot of her bed, with blood on her face, hands and gown and cuts about her face. Among her injuries were cuts in her gums from her dentures which had not been removed from her mouth. The dentures were broken in the fall.
This nurse knew that the patient had undergone seizures and that she had been restrained during the period she was confined in the intensive care unit. For the purpose of making chart entries, the nurse used three classifications for patients whom she found confused. They were: confused, slightly confused and very confused. She described the stage noted as 'confused' to be a degree more than slightly confused and different from 'disoriented.' She did not have an independent recollection whether the patient was disoriented, but relied entirely upon the chart notation she made. To have used the word 'disoriented' would have meant to her that the patient did not know who she was, where she was or what was going on about her.
The patient's physician had not ordered any restraints on her except for the four side rails which were raised. The matter of other restraints at the time rested in the discretion of the nurse in charge. She did not have to have the permission of a doctor before using a safety belt on a patient. Mrs. DeLeuil had on some occasions applied belts or other such restraints on patients. One of the devices she had used and which was available in the hospital was a posey belt. This was described by her as a strap which goes around a patient's waist to be fastened under the bed or to its sides in a manner which permits the patient to turn from side to side, but prevents him from getting out of the bed. The belt can be applied in five minutes. It was the nurse's opinion that when she observed the patient at 2:00 a.m. there was no need for the use of such a belt, but one was applied by direction of the attending intern after the patent's facial wounds had been treated.
Mrs. DeLeuil was the first person to reach Mrs. Dollins after the fall. The patient told the nurse that she was going to the bathroom when she fell. According to the nurse, the use of four side rails was a normal precaution for a patient who was subject to seizures. The room was equipped with a call light by which the nurse could be summoned. The nurse did not recall having received any call from the patient on the night in question. Mrs. DeLeuil knew that Mrs. Dollins was physically able to get out of bed. In this nurse's judgment, based upon her experience, additional restraints are not necessary for a 'confused' patient, unless he had previously been trying to get out of bed or there were other factors indicating the likelihood of some unusual hazard to the patient's safety. She considered that restraints tended to disturb a patient so that he could not get needed rest. Mrs. DeLeuil said that in four years' experience in the capacity in which she was acting on the night of Mrs. Dollins' injury, she had never had a patient subject to seizures who had not been successfully prevented by the side rails from falling out of bed. She testified that in the case of most seizures there would be a jerking movement or thrashing around of the patient's body, but that she had never seen such an active seizure that a patient could get up and jump out of bed. In her opinion, there was no need for restraints on Mrs. Dollins other than the four bed rails.
Dr. Henry Johnson had admitted Mrs. Dollins to the hospital because of his diagnosis of possible stroke. He testified that she had seizures on admission. He did not remember whether she had undergone others while in intensive care. Her removal to the semiprivate room was an exercise of his discretion. In his opinion, restraints other than the bed rails were not indicated prior to Mrs. Dollins' fall. He testified the restraints are ordered when a patient is extremely agitated or combative, and he felt that restraints often increased a patient's agitation. Although Dr. Johnson described the patient as being somewhat confused throughout her hospital stay and recalled no dramatic change, he felt that she was continuously improving mentally after she was released from intensive care.
Appellant contends that he had met his burden of proof under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, if not otherwise, making the directed verdict erroneous. He argues that the patient, the safety restraints and the nurse were all instrumentalities under the control of the hospital. He relies upon our decision in Martin v. Aetna...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Young v. Gastro-Intestinal Center, Inc.
...Regions Bank & Trust v. Stone County Nursing Facility, Inc., 345 Ark. 555, 49 S.W.3d 107 (2001); Dollins v. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co., 252 Ark. 13, 477 S.W.2d 179 (1972). In Dollins, supra, the issue was whether there was negligence in failing to watch over a patient known to be "confu......
-
Ethyl Corp. v. Johnson
...Ark. 101, 871 S.W.2d 552 (1994); First Electric Coop. Corp. v. Pinson, 277 Ark. 424, 642 S.W.2d 301 (1982); Dollins v. Hartford Acc. & Indem. Co., 252 Ark. 13, 477 S.W.2d 179 (1972). "Conduct becomes negligent only as it gives rise to appreciable risk of injury to others, and there is no ne......
-
Regions Bank & Trust v. Stone County Skilled Nursing Facility, Inc.
...were therefore under a duty of ordinary care to provide such attention as her condition reasonably required. Dollins v. Hartford Acc. & Ind. Co., 252 Ark. 13, 477 S.W.2d 179 (1972). Given Elder's total inability to take care of herself, Stone County Skilled Nursing Facility was responsible ......
-
Mangrum v. Pigue
...It applies where the evidence of the true cause is available to the defendant but not to the plaintiff. Dollins v. Hartford Accident & Indem. Co., 252 Ark. 13, 477 S.W.2d 179 (1972). In the case before us, Wann testified that Mangrum's cornfield showed symptoms of not just Roundup, but also......