Gill v. Foster

• Decision Date: 18 November 1993
• Docket Number: No. 74350,74350
• Citation: 626 N.E.2d 190,157 Ill.2d 304,193 Ill.Dec. 157
• Parties: , 193 Ill.Dec. 157 Enos GILL, Appellant, v. James T. FOSTER, M.D., et al., Appellees.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 190

626 N.E.2d 190

157 Ill.2d 304, 193 Ill.Dec. 157

Enos GILL, Appellant, v. James T. FOSTER, M.D., et al., Appellees.

No. 74350.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 18, 1993.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 31, 1994.

Harlan Heller, Maria Dunn and C. Steve Ferguson, Heller, Holmes & Associates, P.C., Mattoon, for appellant.

Randall A. Mead and David L. Drake, Drake, Narup & Mead, P.C., Springfield (Robert Marc Chemers, Pretzel & Stouffer, Chtrd., Chicago, of counsel), for appellee James T. Foster.

Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, Peoria (Karen L. Kendall and Bradley S. McMillan, of counsel), and Daniel R. Simmons, Springfield, for appellee C.F. Aquino.

Nancy E. Martin and Richard J. Wilderson, Graham & Graham, Ltd., Springfield, for appellee St. John's Hospital.

Bruce Robert Pfaff, Chicago, for amicus curiae Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

Justice HEIPLE delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiff, Enos Gill, entered St. John's Hospital in Springfield, for evaluation and work-up for surgery to correct a chronic condition, reflux esophagitis. After surgery, as he was experiencing chest pain, plaintiff consulted his family physician, Dr. C.F. Aquino. Dr. Aquino subsequently hospitalized plaintiff in St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield.

While at St. Francis, plaintiff's condition apparently worsened. He experienced a sudden onset of extreme chest pain and low blood pressure. Further, a pathology report showed that food particles were trapped in plaintiff's chest.

Ultimately, plaintiff was transferred to Memorial Medical Center under the care of Dr. James David Rogers. Dr. Rogers obtained an upper gastrointestinal study which indicated that plaintiff's stomach was trapped in the chest. Dr. Rogers performed surgery on January 7, 1985. He made an abdominal incision and attempted to reduce the stomach back into the abdominal cavity but could not do so because of the amount of inflammation. This incision was then closed and plaintiff's chest was opened. It was then discovered that a nasal gastric tube placed at St. Francis Hospital had punctured plaintiff's stomach and the leaking contents had established an infection and inflammatory process over the left lung, coating it with a sticky substance which had to be stripped. After this was done, the stomach was reduced into the abdominal cavity.

Plaintiff then brought this medical malpractice action against Doctors Farrell and McCormick, St. John's Hospital, Dr. Aquino, and Dr. James T. Foster, the radiologist at St. Francis in Litchfield. Plaintiff settled with Farrell and McCormick, the doctors who were responsible for his original surgery. As to the remaining parties, summary judgment was granted in favor of St. John's Hospital, and a verdict was directed in favor of Dr. Foster. While the jury found in favor of plaintiff against Dr. Aquino, it found that plaintiff's damages of $55,000 had to be reduced by 50% due to plaintiff's own negligence.

The appellate court affirmed. 232 Ill.App.3d 768, 173 Ill.Dec. 802, 597 N.E.2d 776.

On appeal to this court, plaintiff raises the following issues: (1) whether the granting of summary judgment in favor of St. John's Hospital was error; (2) whether the trial court committed an abuse of discretion by refusing to admit bills from Memorial Hospital and the offer of proof concerning what the testimony of a hospital administrator would be as to the average cost of a hiatal hernia repair; (3) whether the jury's finding that plaintiff was negligent was against the manifest weight of the evidence; (4) whether the damages assessed by the jury against plaintiff's family doctor were inadequate and contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence; and (5) whether it was error for the trial court to refuse to allow one of plaintiff's experts, a surgeon, to testify concerning the standard of care pertaining to radiologists.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Plaintiff entered St. John's Hospital in Springfield, under Dr. Raymond L. Farrell's care, for evaluation and work-up for surgery to correct plaintiff's reflux esophagitis (essentially a condition where there is backward flow of material from the stomach and an inflammation of the esophagus). Dr. Richard McCormick performed the surgery, a Nissen fundoplication, on December 19, 1984.

The doctor's progress notes indicated that on December 26, 1984, plaintiff complained of chest pain. Testimony indicates that Dr. McCormick thought that this pain was normal after this type of surgery and that perhaps plaintiff had pulled a muscle when he experienced vomiting.

On December 28, 1984, when plaintiff was discharged from St. John's Hospital, he complained to the discharge nurse of chest pain. The nurse, aware that plaintiff had complained of chest pain previously, examined him. According to plaintiff, the nurse, after listening to plaintiff's chest Count one of plaintiff's complaint was directed against defendant St. John's Hospital. In it, plaintiff alleged that the hospital deviated from the accepted standard of care by discharging plaintiff from the hospital even though plaintiff complained of chest pain, failing to inform the treating physician that plaintiff was complaining of chest pain at the time of discharge, and failing to communicate plaintiff's clinical findings to a nursing supervisor for appropriate care.

[193 Ill.Dec. 160] stated that there was something wrong and advised him to go to his family doctor.

Defendant, St. John's Hospital, filed a motion for summary judgment denying the negligence of its agents and that such alleged negligence was the proximate cause of plaintiff's injuries. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the hospital.

The appellate court affirmed. That court found that, while there may have been a material question of fact regarding whether a nurse's duty of care was breached, the discharge nurse's failure to relate plaintiff's complaint of chest pain to an attending physician was not the cause of plaintiff's injury because the doctor already knew of the pain.

On appeal to this court, plaintiff maintains that the omissions of the nursing staff at St. John's Hospital contributed to the delay in diagnosing the plaintiff's complications, resulting in a much more difficult and complicated operation. Plaintiff argues that the appellate court decision has the effect of requiring plaintiff to prove that defendant's negligence was more likely than not the cause of plaintiff's injuries at the summary judgment stage. Plaintiff contends that it was a jury question as to whether the nurse's omission contributed to, and was thus a proximate cause of plaintiff's injuries.

We cannot agree. A review of the evidence can only lead to the conclusion the appellate court reached. First, defendant Aquino's expert, Dr. Don Ramsey, testified that based on his review of the records he believed the herniation of the stomach into the chest occurred on December 24, 1984. It is uncontroverted, however, that the treating physician had repeated contacts with plaintiff after that date and failed to properly diagnose the problem. We note that Dr. McCormick examined plaintiff on December 26, 1984, and determined that the chest pain was a normal side effect of the surgery. Dr. McCormick received another report of plaintiff's pain on December 27, 1984. Finally, on December 28, 1984, the date of discharge, plaintiff reiterated to Dr. McCormick his continuing chest pain within three hours before discharge and Dr. McCormick chose not to examine plaintiff more thoroughly. In short, when plaintiff was discharged from St. John's Hospital, he was experiencing pain in his chest for which he was taking no medication, which was similar to that which he had been experiencing for several days prior to discharge, and which he had reported to his attending physician on the morning of discharge. In light of these facts, we must agree with the appellate court and find that even assuming the nurse had breached a duty to inform the treating physician of the patient's complaint, this breach did not proximately cause the delay in the correct diagnosis of the plaintiff's condition.

ERRORS REGARDING DEFENDANT AQUINO

A. The Medical Bills

Plaintiff raises several issues with regards to defendant Dr. Aquino. He first contends that the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to admit plaintiff's exhibits Nos. 1 and 6 as proof of damages against Dr. Aquino. Exhibit 1 is a bill from Memorial Medical Center for 23 days of hospitalization amounting to $19,625.98. Exhibit 6 is the bill of Dr. Rogers in the sum of $2,550.

The trial judge apparently excluded the two bills because the plaintiff made no effort to separate which charges on the bills would necessarily have been incurred as the natural result of a necessary repair surgery for a herniated stomach, and which, if any, were incurred as the result "[O]n Plaintiff's Exhibit 1 there are literally hundreds of entries that the jury would have no basis, no ability to determine what would have happened if this man would never have gone to Litchfield, what of these expenses would have been incurred anyway.

[193 Ill.Dec. 161] of something chargeable to defendanT dr. aquino's negligence. in excluding exhibit 1 the court stated:

* * * * * *

There has to be people throughout who are qualified to break these down, but absent any evidence on which this jury can do it, is not those twelve people sitting over there."

After the court denied admission of exhibit 1, plaintiff attempted to satisfy the court's foundational requirements by offering the testimony of Gregory Weller, vice president of finance at Memorial Medical Center. When questioned by the trial court as to whether or not Weller was going to break down the expenses set forth in exhibit 1, plaintiff's counsel replied in the negative and stated that he was only going to testify regarding the average cost of this type of procedure.

Defense counsel objected to the offer of testimony arguing...