Law v. Camp
| Citation | 116 F.Supp.2d 295 |
| Decision Date | 26 July 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. Civ.3:96CV2147(AHN).,No. 3:96CV2148(AHN).,Civ.3:96CV2147(AHN).,3:96CV2148(AHN). |
| Parties | James A. LAW v. Walter A. CAMP, MD and Dickerman Hollister Jr., MD. James A. Law, Executor of the Estate of Janice C. Law and James A. Law v. Greenwich Hospital, et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut |
John Vecchiolla, Robert H. Law III, Greenwich, CT, for plaintiff.
Robert Kiley, Hartford, CT, Lois B. Tanzer, Hartford, CT, William J. Wenzel, Bpt., CT, Michael Neubert, New Haven, CT, W. Patrick Ryan, Stamford, CT, for defendant.
RULING ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT
These two consolidated actions arise out of the hospitalization and subsequent death of Janice C. Law ("Mrs.Law"). The first, 3:96cv2147(AHN), is a fraud action brought by James A. Law ("Law"), Mrs. Law's son, individually against Walter A. Camp, M.D. ("Camp") and Dickerman Hollister Jr, M.D. ("Hollister"). The second, 3:96cv2148(AHN), is a medical malpractice action brought by Law, individually and as executor of the estate of Mrs. Law. The defendants in the second action are Greenwich Hospital (the "Hospital"), Frank Corvino, CEO and President of the Hospital, and Bruce Warwick, Chairman of the Hospital's Board of Trustees, James Brunetti, M.D. ("Brunetti"), Mitchell Kline, M.D. ("Kline"), Wei-Nchih Lee, M.D. ("Lee"), (collectively the "Hospital Defendants"), and four other physicians: Dr. Camp, Dr. Hollister, Francis Walsh, M.D. ("Walsh"), and Arthur Rosenberg, M.D. ("Rosenberg").
Presently pending before the court is Law's motion for partial summary judgment in the malpractice action [doc. # 196], the Hospital Defendants' motion for summary judgment in the malpractice action [doc. # 227], Dr. Walsh's and Dr. Rosenberg's motions for summary judgment in the malpractice action [doc. # 262 and doc. # 259], and Dr. Camp's and Dr. Hollister's motions for summary judgment in both actions [doc. # 267 and doc. # 243].
For the following reasons, Law's motion is DENIED. The motions of the Hospital Defendants, Dr. Camp, Dr. Hollister, Dr. Walsh and Dr. Rosenberg are GRANTED.
Discovery in these cases has been contentious and lengthy. The parties have appeared before Magistrate Judge Holly B. Fitzsimmons on a frequent and routine basis. She has issued numerous discovery rulings, one of which ordered Law to disclose his expert witnesses by December 15, 1998. On December 12, 1998, he disclosed Arthur Kaufman, M.D. ("Kaufman"). On December 14, 1998, he disclosed S. Murphy Vishnubhakat, M.D. ("Vishnubhakat"). On June 3, 1999, the magistrate judge denied Law's request for an extension of time to disclose additional expert witnesses. On June 3, 1999, and November 22, 1999, she ruled that Law was precluded from designating further expert testimony regarding the standard of care. Nonetheless, on February 2, 2000, Law disclosed Jay B. Krasner, M.D. as a "rebuttal" expert witness. On June 2, 2000, the defendants' motion to preclude the testimony of this witness either in support of or in opposition to summary judgment or trial was granted.
Discovery is now over. Law's previous motion for summary judgment in the fraud action was denied on the ground that there were material issues of fact in dispute.
A motion for summary judgment may be granted if the court determines that there are no genuine issues of material fact to be tried and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c); Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In considering a Rule 56 motion, the court's responsibility is not to resolve disputed issues of fact, but to assess whether there are any factual issues to be tried, while resolving all ambiguities and drawing all reasonable inferences against the moving party. See Knight v. U.S. Fire Ins. Co., 804 F.2d 9, 11 (2d Cir.1986) (citing Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505; Eastway Constr. Corp. v. City of N.Y., 762 F.2d 243, 249 (2d Cir.1985)); see also Ramseur v. Chase Manhattan Bank, 865 F.2d 460, 465 (2d Cir.1989); Donahue v. Windsor Locks Bd. of Fire Comm'rs, 834 F.2d 54, 57 (2d Cir. 1987). The substantive law governing a particular case identifies the facts that are material. See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 258, 106 S.Ct. 2505. "A dispute regarding a material fact is genuine `if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.'" Aldrich v. Randolph Cent. Sch. Dist., 963 F.2d 520, 523 (2d Cir.1992) (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505).
Summary judgment may be granted only if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with affidavits, if any, show that reasonable minds could not differ as to the material facts. See Miner v. City of Glens Falls, 999 F.2d 655, 661 (2d Cir.1993); Bryant v. Maffucci, 923 F.2d 979, 982 (2d Cir.1991); Suburban Propane v. Proctor Gas, Inc., 953 F.2d 780, 788 (2d Cir.1992).
The following facts are undisputed unless otherwise indicated.
On or about October 19, 1994, Mrs. Law, a 64 year old diabetic, began to note weakness, low grade fever, a nonproductive cough, frequent urination and anorexia and malaise. On October 26, 1994, Mrs. Law was seen by her internist, Dr. Walsh, at his office. She had a low-grade fever and an elevated blood glucose level. Dr. Walsh decided to hospitalize her to control her diabetes and to evaluate the cause of her fever.
At approximately 1:00 p.m. on October 26, 1994, Mrs. Law arrived at the Hospital emergency room. She was evaluated by Dr. Walsh, Dr. Brunetti and a medical resident who is not a defendant in this action. She was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and elevated blood sugar. She was treated in the emergency room with intravenous saline, insulin and acetaminophen. Dr. Walsh admitted her to the Hospital for treatment of the infection, to look for all other possible sources of infection, and to treat her for possible sepsis. He put her on Unasyn, a broad-based antibiotic, and insulin.
After Dr. Walsh admitted Mrs. Law to the Hospital, he contacted Dr. Hollister by telephone and arranged for him to be Mrs. Law's attending physician because Dr. Walsh was leaving town to attend a meeting.
Dr. Brunetti was in charge of Mrs. Law's care during the night of October 26-27, 1994. At 7:45 a.m. on October 27, Mrs. Law suffered pulmonary arrest. At 7:48 a.m. she suffered respiratory arrest. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed. After about twenty-five minutes cardiac function was restored. Mrs. Law was intubated and placed on a mechanical ventilator (life support). She was transferred to the ICU in a deep coma. She incurred extensive neurological damage as a result of the arrest. Dr. Brunetti had no further involvement in Mrs. Law's care or treatment after she was transferred to the ICU. Dr. Lee and Dr. Kline, Hospital residents, were involved in the resuscitation and in Mrs. Law's care and treatment in the ICU.
Dr. Camp, chief of neurology at the Hospital, was called in for a neurological consultation. He examined Mrs. Law several times on October 27 and 28. During those two days, Mrs. Law remained in an unresponsive state, with, among other things, fixed, dilated pupils, no response to external stimuli or pinpricks, no purposeful movements, and no blink reflex. Dr. Camp confirmed to Dr. Hollister that Mrs. Law was irreparably brain damaged and irreversibly unconscious, with no hope for neurological recovery.
Dr. Camp met with Mrs. Law's family during the afternoon of October 28. Dr. Hollister and Dr. Lee were present for at least some of the meeting. The facts relating to what was said by Dr. Camp and Dr. Hollister during the meeting relating to Mrs. Law's condition are disputed. Dr. Hollister and Dr. Camp assert that the family was told that Mrs. Law would not recover neurologic function—that her brain was so severely damaged that no significant recovery was possible. Dr. Camp denies that he told the family that Mrs. Law was brain dead and claims that he told them that brain death is not a necessary factor in determining whether to continue life support measures. Dr. Hollister and Dr. Camp both maintain that they asked her family if she had a living will or whether they knew what her wishes would be, and her family indicated that she would not wish to remain in that condition. Law contends that Dr. Camp told the family that Mrs. Law was brain dead and that the decision to place Mrs. Law on patient-assisted ventilation was based on the family's belief that she was brain dead.
It is, however, an undisputed fact that during the meeting it was decided that Mrs. Law would be removed from the mechanical ventilator and placed on patient-assisted ventilation, by which the machine would breathe for her if she made any attempt to breathe on her own. Thus, if Mrs. Law had no brain function, she would not breathe and would die. Her family was aware that without brain function, Mrs. Law would expire.
At 5:52 p.m. Mrs. Law was removed from the mechanical ventilator. At 6:15 p.m. Mrs. Law died. She was pronounced dead by Dr. Rosenberg, who was called in by the floor nurses to make the pronouncement.
Mrs. Law did not have a living will, health care proxy or other notation regarding her wishes as to life support, and she had never expressed her wishes on this issue to her family or her physicians.
In October, 1994, Corvino was President of the Hospital and Warwick was Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Neither of them were involved in the care and treatment of Mrs. Law, and neither had supervisory responsibility or control over Dr. Camp or Dr. Hollister. In addition, neither of them had responsibility for preparing protocols for determining brain death or establishing policies regarding communications with patients' families.
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