Madrid v. Lincoln County Medical Center

• Decision Date: 21 August 1996
• Docket Number: No. 23259,23259
• Parties: Sonia MADRID, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. LINCOLN COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER, a New Mexico corporation, Defendant-Petitioner.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

Page 1154

923 P.2d 1154

122 N.M. 269

Sonia MADRID, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. LINCOLN COUNTY MEDICAL CENTER, a New Mexico corporation Defendant-Petitioner.

No. 23259.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

Aug. 21, 1996.

[122 N.M. 270] Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin & Robb, P.A., W. Robert Lasater, Edward Ricco, Albuquerque, for Petitioner.

Alexander A. Wold, Jr., P.C., Alexander A. Wold, Jr., Walter M. Hart, III, Albuquerque, for Respondent.

OPINION

RANSOM, Justice.

1. Sonia Madrid sued the Lincoln County Medical Center for negligent infliction of emotional distress arising from her fear that she might have contracted acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) when exposed to bloody fluids while transporting medical samples from the Medical Center to laboratories in Albuquerque. She sought damages for medical and other expenses, lost earnings, and for pain and suffering. The Medical Center moved for summary judgment, arguing that as a matter of law Madrid could not recover because she could not prove the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was present in the medical sample that leaked. The trial court adopted the Medical Center's position that the presence of HIV must be proved and entered summary judgment. Madrid appealed.

2. The Court of Appeals reversed the summary judgment, holding that, in light of current New Mexico tort law, proof of actual HIV exposure is not required in a suit seeking emotional-distress damages resulting from a negligently caused fear of contracting AIDS through a medically sound channel of transmission. Madrid v. Lincoln County Medical Ctr., 121 N.M. 133, 138, 909 P.2d 14, 19 (Ct.App.), cert. granted, 120 N.M. 828, 907 P.2d 1009 (1995). We granted the Medical Center's petition for a writ of certiorari because of our concern over apparent misinterpretation of current New Mexico tort law by the Court of Appeals.

3. We review the New Mexico tort law cited by the Court of Appeals, and--given the current medical impossibility of confirming or ruling out HIV infection for six months to a year after a possible exposure and the foreseeability to parties in the healthcare industry that in today's climate of heightened anxiety over AIDS a person exposed to blood or other bodily fluids will suffer emotional distress which cannot readily be alleviated--we affirm that Court's rejection of an actual-exposure test.

4. Facts and proceedings. In September 1992 Sonia Madrid was transporting medical samples from the Medical Center to laboratories in Albuquerque. During transport one of the sample containers leaked, and Madrid was splashed with bloody fluid. Madrid claims that at the time of this incident she had unhealed paper cuts on her hands which came in contact with the bloody fluid and that any or all of two to four containers may have been the source of the leakage. Based on widespread publicity about the AIDS virus, Madrid knew that it was possible to contract AIDS by contact with blood or other bodily fluids through unhealed cuts. She had been advised by healthcare providers whom she had consulted following her contact with the bloody fluid that she should be tested for HIV several times over a six-month to one-year period.

5. Madrid learned approximately two months after she had come in contact with the bloody fluid that a patient from whom one of the samples had come had tested HIV-negative.¹ However, because she did not discover that only one specimen container had leaked until an affidavit was filed by the Medical Center in July 1994, and because she had been instructed that under the current medical state of the art HIV could go undetected for at least six months, Madrid did not accept the test results as conclusively ruling out infection.

6. In its motion for summary judgment the Medical Center urged the district court to adopt the rule accepted by a majority of courts and conclude that actual exposure to HIV is a threshold requirement in any claim for emotional-distress damages arising out of a fear of having contracted AIDS. Madrid countered by arguing that summary judgment was improper as long as a jury could determine that her fear of having contracted AIDS was reasonable. The district court found it determinative that the bloody fluid splashed on Madrid had not been proved to contain HIV, concluding that "based upon the record ... and the state of the law that exists in other jurisdictions ... the motion for summary judgment has merit."

7. The Court of Appeals reversed the entry of summary judgment. Although the Court noted that "[t]he actual exposure test has been adopted by the majority of courts," it concluded that "in the overall context of New Mexico tort law" threshold proof of the presence of HIV in the disease-transmitting agent would not be required. Madrid, 121 N.M. at 138, 909 P.2d at 19. In reaching this conclusion, the Court first reasoned that New Mexico "no longer require[s] a plaintiff to suffer a physical impact in order to recover emotional distress damages." Madrid, 121 N.M. at 138, 909 P.2d at 19 (citing Folz v. State, 110 N.M. 457, 471, 797 P.2d 246, 260 (1990)). The Court then reasoned that "emotional distress damages are recoverable, even if they are the only damages alleged, as long as the plaintiff proves that they are 'severe.' " Id. at 139, 909 P.2d at 20 (citing Flores v. Baca, 117 N.M. 306, 313, 871 P.2d 962, 969 (1994)). Finally, the Court concluded that the Medical Center owes a duty to persons like Madrid to use ordinary care "to package the medical samples in such a way as to prevent leakage during transport." Id. at 141, 909 P.2d at 22 (citing Torres v. State, 119 N.M. 609, 615, 894 P.2d 386, 392 (1995), for proposition that New Mexico now rejects "zone of danger rule" for determining duty).

8. New Mexico precedent is not determinative of this case. While we first wish to emphasize that this is not a bystander-liability case, the Court of Appeals' reliance on bystander cases and their related rationale does require us to review such cases in order to clarify apparent confusion in terminology and in policies applicable to recovery for emotional distress. In Ramirez v. Armstrong we considered "whether a cause of action exists in New Mexico for negligent infliction of emotional distress to bystanders." 100 N.M. 538, 539, 673 P.2d 822, 823 (1983). There, members of Santana Ramirez family sued the driver of an automobile for emotional distress they suffered in either witnessing or being told of Santana's death. Santana was killed when he was struck by an automobile while crossing a Gallup street. Two of his children and a minor child living with him witnessed his death. A third child, who was not present at the scene of the accident, contended that she suffered severe emotional distress upon being told of her father's death.

9. In deciding whether to recognize a cause of action for negligent infliction of emotional distress to bystanders, we noted that three rules had been adopted in other jurisdictions "in an attempt to define the liability for negligence to a bystander: the 'impact rule,' the 'zone of danger rule,' and the 'Dillon rule.' " Id. at 540, 673 P.2d at 824. Under the Dillon rule, a plaintiff who suffers shock or emotional distress from the contemporaneous observation of an accident involving a close family member is entitled to damages. Dillon v. Legg, 68 Cal.2d 728, 69 Cal.Rptr. 72, 80-82, 441 P.2d 912, 920-21 (1968) (in banc). In Ramirez we rejected the prerequisite of an impact or presence in the zone of danger, and we adopted the Dillon rule with the modification that, in order to ensure the genuineness of emotional distress claims, the plaintiff would have to show some "physical manifestation of, or physical injury ... resulting from the emotional injury." 100 N.M. at 542, 673 P.2d at 826.

10. In Folz we took the "opportunity to reexamine the tort of negligent infliction of emotional distress articulated in Ramirez." 110 N.M. at 460, 797 P.2d at 249. The precise issue we considered was "whether, to recover for severe shock from witnessing the death of her husband and fatal injuries to her son, an injured passenger in one of the automobiles was required to prove by expert medical testimony, or otherwise, a physical manifestation of her emotional injury." Id. (emphasis added). Ultimately, we concluded that

to establish the genuineness of a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress, it is sufficient to allege and prove that (1) the plaintiff and the victim enjoyed a marital or intimate family relationship, (2) the plaintiff suffered severe shock from the contemporaneous sensory perception of the accident, and (3) the accident caused physical injury or death to the victim.

Folz, 110 N.M. at 471, 797 P.2d at 260.

11. Thus, the only change in the rule permitting bystander recovery for emotional distress following our decision in Folz was that the genuineness of a plaintiff's claim would no longer be measured by proof of some subsequent physical manifestation of an emotional trauma suffered as a result of witnessing the death of or great bodily injury to a close family member. Even in the interim between our decisions in Ramirez and Folz, no decision by this Court ever required that a bystander seeking damages for emotional distress suffer some physical impact in the death or injury-producing accident giving rise to his or her emotional-distress claims. Nor has this Court ever resolved whether, for example, a person involved in a car accident who suffers some physical injury may recover damages for the emotional distress associated with witnessing the death of or great bodily injury to another in that accident.

12. What we did say in Folz was

The irony of this case is that Folz satisfies the impact rule allowing recovery by a nonfamily member for emotional distress, i.e., the most narrow standard upon which to base a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress. Unlike the children in Ramirez, who were pure...