Hialeah Hospital, Inc. v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 31 October 1972
• Docket Number: No. 71--1301,71--1301
• Citation: 268 So.2d 424
• Parties: HIALEAH HOSPITAL, INC., and American Motorists Insurance Company, Appellants, v. Reba D. JOHNSON, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 424

268 So.2d 424

HIALEAH HOSPITAL, INC., and American Motorists Insurance Company, Appellants, v. Reba D. JOHNSON, Appellee.

No. 71--1301.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

Oct. 31, 1972.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 28, 1972.

Wicker, Smith, Pyszka, Blomqvist & Davant, Miami, for appellants.

Hawkesworth & Kay, Horton, Schwartz & Perse, Miami, for appellee.

Before BARKDULL, C.J., and CHARLES CARROLL and HAVERFIELD, JJ.

HAVERFIELD, Judge.

Defendant-appellants, Hialeah Hospital, Inc. and American Motorists Insurance Company, seek review of a jury verdict and final judgment entered in favor of plaintiff-appellee, Reba D. Johnson, in her suit for personal injuries allegedly caused by the hospital's negligence.

Mrs. Johnson, a sixty-seven year old woman who has been paralyzed from the waist down following a spinal operation in 1954, was admitted to Hialeah Hospital by her attending physician for treatment of a persistent fever and decubitus ulcers--bed or pressure sores. With plaintiff's condition progressing satisfactorily, her physician gave the hospital personnel the following orders: 'May dangle, PRN'. This order allowed Mrs. Johnson to sit up with assistance on her bed with her feet dangling over the edge of the bed but without touching the floor. There were no rails or other safety devices to protect Mrs. Johnson when in a dangle position, thus the doctor required assistance from the hospital staff to prevent plaintiff from having an accident while in this position.

On the afternoon of March 10, 1969, approximately one and one half months following Mrs. Johnson's admission to the hospital, she was helped into the dangle position on the side of her bed by a nurse's aide. While in this attitude, plaintiff, who was not aware of her doctor's orders requiring help from the hospital staff while the dangle position was maintained, requested the murse's aide for letter writing stationery. The aide, contrary to the doctor's instructions, left the room leaving plaintiff sitting alone on the bed. Her paralyzed legs could not hold her and she fell.

As a result of this accident, plaintiff suffered a serious and impacted fracture of her right leg. The fracture was not discovered by the hospital staff until the fourth day following the accident. Plaintiff, by reason of her paralyzed condition, could not feel anything in her legs and the hospital did not take x-rays immediately following the accident. Sitz baths, which had been previously prescribed by plaintiff's attending physician, who was out of town during the accident, and the events which followed, were continued. The fracture suffered by Mrs. Johnson was aggravated by the sitz baths to the extent that it was ultimately necessary to amputate her leg.

Plaintiff, following this set of circumstances, filed a complaint charging the hospital with negligence by failing to care for, diagnose and treat her and for failure to provide suitable and appropriate medical attendants, nurses, equipment and supplies. The hospital answered with a general denial and the affirmative defense of contributory negligence. The cause was tried before a jury which returned a verdict for plaintiff in the amount of $208,000. Final judgment was entered and after...