Hanks v. Seale

• Decision Date: 12 May 2004
• Citation: 872 So.2d 647
• Parties: Randy HANKS, et al. v. Dr. A. Kent SEALE, et al.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

872 So.2d 647

Randy HANKS, et al. v. Dr. A. Kent SEALE, et al.

No. 04-9.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

May 12, 2004.

Thomas P. LeBlanc, Michael Keith Prudhomme, Lundy & Davis LLP, Lake Charles, LA, for Intervenor-Appellant, Louisiana Patients' Compensation Fund.

Michael H. Schwartzberg, Vamvoras & Schwartzberg, Rudie Ray Soileau, Jr., Attorney at Law, Lake Charles, LA, for Plaintiffs-Appellee, Randy Hanks, Debra Hanks.

Court composed of JOHN D. SAUNDERS, MICHAEL G. SULLIVAN, and ELIZABETH A. PICKETT, Judges.

PICKETT, Judge.

The Louisiana Patients' Compensation Fund appeals a jury verdict finding Drs. Kent Seale and Walter Ledet liable for medical malpractice and awarding Randy Hanks damages.

FACTS

Randy Hanks suffered from esophageal reflux. At the direction of his family doctor, Dr. Randall Wagman, Hanks saw Dr. Walter Ledet on January 15, 1997, who performed an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), a diagnostic procedure. Dr. Ledet diagnosed Hanks with a severe case of esophagitis (inflammation of the esophagus). Dr. Wagman prescribed medicine to treat the esophagitis. Six weeks later, Hanks returned to Dr. Ledet, who performed another EGD and found that the inflammation had almost completely healed, but the esophageal reflux condition continued to be a problem.

In March 1998, Hanks returned to Dr. Wagman seeking to resolve the esophageal reflux condition. Dr. Wagman referred Hanks to Dr. Ledet. On April 7, 1998, Dr. Ledet scheduled Hanks for surgery to repair the esophageal reflux condition. On April 13, 1998, Dr. Ledet, with the assistance of his partner, Dr. Kent Seale, performed surgery on Hanks. The surgery involved the repair of a hiatal hernia and a Nissen fundoplication. The surgery was elective and usually requires a two to three day hospital stay. Following the surgery, Hanks began developing complications, including necrosis of the stomach tissue and infection in the abdominal cavity, which required additional surgeries to remedy. He was released from the hospital on May 30, 1998. He has been hospitalized multiple times and has had multiple surgeries since his discharge for problems related to the initial surgery.

On April 8, 1999, Hanks submitted a request for a medical review panel to review his case in accordance with the Louisiana Medical Malpractice Act. Following their review of the case, the doctors on the panel issued a fractured opinion. All three agreed that Drs. Ledet and Seale met the applicable standards of care with respect to the surgery and the post-operative care of Hanks. On the issue of preoperative care, each member of the panel issued a different opinion. Dr. Baron Newton found that the preoperative care failed to meet the standard of care because the doctors failed to perform EGD and manometry tests. Dr. Dean Griffen found that while the failure to perform a manometry test before the surgery was a breach of the standard of care, the breach did not cause the complications suffered by Hanks. Dr. Meyer Kaplan found that the preoperative care met the standard of care.

On July 31, 2000, Hanks and his wife, Debra, individually and on behalf of their minor daughter, filed a malpractice suit against Drs. Ledet and Seale. The matter was tried before a jury April 7 through April 11, 2003. In response to special jury interrogatories, they found that Hanks proved the standard of care applicable to Drs. Ledet and Seale, that he proved a breach of the standard of care by both doctors, and that the breach caused the injuries suffered by Hanks. They awarded damages in the following amounts to Hanks:

Past and Future Physical Pain and Suffering $ 500,000.00 Past and Future Mental Anguish $ 200,000.00 Past Medical Expenses $ 628,860.32 Future Medical Expenses $ 2,435,040.00 Loss of Enjoyment of Life $ 100,000.00 Past Wages $ 56,686.00 Future Wages/Earning Capacity $ 226,207.00 TOTAL $ 4,146,793.32

They also awarded $75,000.00 to Mrs. Hanks for loss of consortium, but found that Hanks' daughter did not prove a loss of consortium. The trial court issued a judgment in conformity with the verdict on May 2, 2003, finding Drs. Seale and Ledet liable for $100,000 each, and finding the State Treasurer's Office and the Office of Risk Management liable for the remaining damages, subject to statutory limits. Drs. Ledet and Seale have satisfied their judgments and are not involved in this appeal. The PCF intervened and filed this suspensive appeal.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

The PCF asserts two assignments of error:

1. The jury committed manifest error in finding that plaintiffs established the applicable standards of care with regard to the preoperative, operative and post-operative treatment afforded Mr. Hanks in this case and, assuming the standards of care were proved, in finding that Drs. Seale and Ledet breached

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