Gagliano v. Advanced Specialty Care, P.C.
Decision Date | 14 August 2018 |
Docket Number | SC 19804 |
Citation | 189 A.3d 587,329 Conn. 745 |
Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
Parties | Vivian GAGLIANO et al. v. ADVANCED SPECIALTY CARE, P.C., et al. |
Alinor C. Sterling, Bridgeport, with whom were Katherine L. Mesner-Hage and, on the brief, Joshua D. Koskoff, Bridgeport, for the appellants (plaintiffs).
Michael G. Rigg, Hartford, for the appellee (defendant Danbury Hospital).
Roy W. Breitenbach and Michael J. Keane, Jr., filed a brief for the Fairfield County Medical Association as amicus curiae.
Kathryn Calibey, Sean J. Stokes,Hartford and Brendan Faulkner filed a brief for the Connecticut Center for Patient Safety as amicus curiae.
Jennifer L. Cox and Jennifer A. Osowiecki, Hartford, filed a brief for the Connecticut Hospital Association as amicus curiae.
Palmer, McDonald, D'Auria, Mullins and Kahn, Js.*
The primary issue in this medical malpractice action is whether there was sufficient evidence from which the jury reasonably could have found that the defendant surgical resident, Venkata Bodavula, was an actual agent of the defendant hospital, Danbury Hospital, when he negligently performed a surgical procedure under the supervision of a member of the hospital's clinical faculty who was also the plaintiff's private physician. Upon our grant of certification, Vivian Gagliano (plaintiff) and her husband, Philip Gagliano (collectively, plaintiffs), appeal from the judgment of the Appellate Court reversing the trial court's judgment, in part, as to the hospital's vicarious liability for Bodavula's negligence. We conclude that the trial court properly determined that there was sufficient evidence to establish such an agency relationship, and that imposing vicarious liability on the hospital for Bodavula's actions was not improper.
The opinion of the Appellate Court sets forth the following facts that the jury reasonably could have found, which we supplement in part I of this opinion, and procedural history. "On July 23, 2008, the plaintiff underwent hernia
repair surgery at the hospital. The surgery was to be performed by [Joseph R. Gordon], her physician, who had recommended the procedure to the plaintiff during an examination at his office. [Gordon] was not employed by the hospital, but maintained staff privileges allowing him to attend to his patients admitted to the hospital.
"Prior to the start of the procedure, but without the plaintiff's [specific] knowledge, a fourth year [surgical] resident, [Bodavula], was assigned to assist [Gordon] with the surgery.1 ... [Gordon] asked [Bodavula] about his experience with a surgical device called an optical trocar
, which was to be used in the surgery. [Bodavula] informed [Gordon] that he knew how to use the device. Under [Gordon's] supervision, [Bodavula] performed the initial insertion of the device into the plaintiff's abdomen.
"As the surgery proceeded, [Gordon] became concerned that [Bodavula] was improperly [applying too much force in] using the optical trocar
. At that point, [Gordon] took over for [Bodavula] and completed the plaintiff's surgery. Two days after the surgery, while recovering in the hospital, the plaintiff began to exhibit signs of infection, and her body went into septic shock. It was discovered that the plaintiff's colon had been perforated during the surgery. [As a consequence, the plaintiff ultimately sustained life threatening and life altering injuries.] ...
(Footnotes added and omitted.) Gagliano v. Advanced Specialty Care, P.C. , 167 Conn. App. 826, 828–35, 145 A.3d 331 (2016).
The record reveals the following additional procedural history. The trial court rendered judgment in accordance with the verdict, from which the hospital appealed. In its appeal to the Appellate Court, the hospital claimed that (1) there was insufficient evidence that Bodavula acted as the hospital's agent when performing the surgery, and (2) a conclusion that the hospital had the right to control Bodavula's surgical performance would contravene the public policy expressed in statutes generally barring the corporate practice of medicine. Id., at 828–29, 145 A.3d 331 and n.3. The Appellate Court agreed with the first ground and, therefore, did not reach the second. Id., at 829, 145 A.3d 331 n.3. Specifically, the Appellate Court held that the evidence did not establish that there was an understanding between Bodavula...
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