Haddad v. Gopal
Decision Date | 14 November 2001 |
Citation | 787 A.2d 975 |
Parties | Reem HADDAD, Appellant v. Tirun A. GOPAL, M.D., Appellee. |
Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Richard J. Orloski, Allentown, for appellant.
Sheila A. Haren, Allentown, for appellee.
Before: HUDOCK, STEVENS, and OLSZEWSKI, JJ.
¶ 1 Reem Haddad appeals from the judgment entered September 15, 2000. We affirm.
Nezar accompanied Haddad to her July appointment. He and a nurse remained in the examination room the entire time Haddad was seen by Dr. Gopal, a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist for twenty-three years. Nezar observed Dr. Gopal performing her pelvic examination. Both Nezar and Haddad participated in a discussion with Dr. Gopal concerning the use of contraceptives. Dr. Gopal did not ask Nezar to leave the room, nor did Nezar ask to be excused. Moreover, Haddad did not ask her husband, the nurse, or Dr. Gopal to have Nezar leave the room during the examination or discussion.
Haddad claims that shortly after she and Nezar received the diagnosis of herpes her marriage relationship turned "upside down." Nezar began to physically and verbally abuse her and she went to a shelter seeking help. She was afraid she would lose their four-year old son, Fuad, if she sought protection from Nezar. She was also enduring abuse from her in-laws. She thereupon filed [an] action against Dr. Gopal claiming breach of doctor-patient confidentiality, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and tortious interference with marital relations. At the conclusion of a jury trial on August [ ] 29, 2000, the jury found in favor of Dr. Gopal and against Haddad in no amount.
Trial Court Opinion, 2/13/01, at 1-5. This appeal followed.
¶ 2 Appellant raises the following issues for review:
Brief of Appellant at 3 (full capitalization omitted).
When reviewing the propriety of an order denying judgment notwithstanding the verdict, this Court must determine whether there is sufficient competent evidence to sustain the verdict. Birth Center v. St. Paul Companies, Inc., 727 A.2d 1144 (Pa.Super.1999). We must review the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winner and give the verdict winner the benefit of every reasonable inference arising therefrom while rejecting all unfavorable testimony and inferences. Id. at 1154. A JNOV can be entered upon two bases: (1) where the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law; and/or, (2) the evidence was such that no two reasonable minds could disagree that the verdict should have been rendered for the movant. When reviewing a trial court's denial of a motion for JNOV, we must consider all of the evidence admitted to decide if there was sufficient competent evidence to sustain the verdict.... Concerning any questions of law, our scope of review is plenary. Concerning questions of credibility and weight accorded the evidence at trial, we will not substitute our judgment for that of the finder of fact.... A JNOV should be entered only in a clear case. Our review of the trial court's denial of a new trial is limited to determining whether the trial court acted capriciously, abused its discretion, or committed an error of law that controlled the outcome of the case. In making this determination, we must consider whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, a new trial would produce a different verdict. Consequently, if there is any support in the record for the trial court's decision to deny a new trial, that decision must be affirmed. Buckley v. Exodus Transit & Storage Corp., 744 A.2d 298, 304-305 (Pa.Super.1999) (internal citations omitted). The scope of review in deciding whether or not a trial court erred in not granting a new trial is broader than when we pass on whether or not a denial of judgment n.o.v. was an abuse of discretion. Here we must consider all of the evidence. Only when the verdict is so contrary to the evidence so as to shock one's sense of justice should a new trial be granted, however. We will not reverse the decision of the trial court in refusing to grant a new trial unless there has been a clear abuse of discretion or an error in law determinative to the outcome of the case.
Price v. Chevrolet Motor Div. of General Motors Corp., 765 A.2d 800, 806-07 (Pa.Super.2000). Appellant brought this civil action against appellee alleging a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality, intentional infliction of emotional distress,1 and tortious interference with marital relations. The trial court dismissed the tortious interference with marital relations claim (discussed below), but permitted the case to proceed on the assumption that Pennsylvania law recognized a civil cause of action for breach of physician-patient confidentiality. Trial Court Opinion, 2/13/01, at 5 n. 5, (citing Moses v. McWilliams, 379 Pa.Super. 150, 549 A.2d 950 (1988) (en banc)). We agree.
¶ 3 In Moses, this Court addressed the question of whether a patient stated a cause of action for breach of confidentiality based on her treating physician's unauthorized and judicially unsupervised communications with the patient's adversary in a pending medical malpractice action. Id. Although not directly on point, we stated that in...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Carrozza v. Greenbaum
...competent evidence to sustain the verdict. Kennedy v. Sell, 816 A.2d 1153, 1156 (Pa.Super.2003) (citation omitted); Haddad v. Gopal, 787 A.2d 975, 979 (Pa.Super.2001), appeal denied, 572 Pa. 705, 813 A.2d 842 (2002) (quotation omitted). We will review all of the evidence in the light most f......
-
In re Zimmer Nexgen Knee Implant Prods. Liab. Litig., MDL No. 2272.
...pretrial discussions with medical malpractice defendant's attorney and testified at trial as an expert witness); with Haddad v. Gopal, 787 A.2d 975, 980–81 (Pa.Super.2001) (recognizing a cause of action for breach of confidentiality where the disclosure was unrelated to any judicial proceed......
-
Carrozza v. Greenbaum, 2004 PA Super 464 (PA 12/8/2004)
...competent evidence to sustain the verdict. Kennedy v. Sell, 816 A.2d 1153, 1156 (Pa.Super. 2003) (citation omitted); Haddad v. Gopal, 787 A.2d 975, 979 (Pa.Super. 2001), appeal denied, 572 Pa. 705, 813 A.2d 842 (2002) (quotation omitted). We will review all of the evidence in the light most......
-
Burger v. Blair Medical Associates, Inc.
...of physician-patient confidentiality were present in this case with regard to the complained-of disclosures. See, e.g., Haddad v. Gopal, 787 A.2d 975, 981 (Pa.Super.2001) (recognizing a cause of action for breach of physician-patient confidentiality in situations where a physician discloses......