Sanders v. Ghrist, 87-113

• Decision Date: 13 April 1988
• Docket Number: No. 87-113,87-113
• Citation: 421 N.W.2d 520
• Parties: Mardell E. SANDERS, Executor of the Estate of Ivan T. Sanders, Deceased, Mardell E. Sanders, Individually, as Mother and Next Friend of Vicky J. Sanders, and Byron Ivan Sanders, Appellants, v. Thomas D. GHRIST, Individually, Thomas D. Ghrist, P.C., a Professional Corporation, Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 520

421 N.W.2d 520

Mardell E. SANDERS, Executor of the Estate of Ivan T. Sanders, Deceased, Mardell E. Sanders, Individually, as Mother and Next Friend of Vicky J. Sanders, and Byron Ivan Sanders, Appellants, v. Thomas D. GHRIST, Individually, Thomas D. Ghrist, P.C., a Professional Corporation, Appellees.

No. 87-113.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

April 13, 1988.

Richard O. McConville of Scalise, Scism, Sandre & Uhl, and Gregory C. McConville, Des Moines, for appellants.

David L. Brown of Hansen, McClintock & Riley, Des Moines, for appellees.

Considered by LARSON, P.J., and SCHULTZ, CARTER, NEUMAN and SNELL, JJ.

SNELL, Justice.

On May 30, 1984, Mardell E. Sanders brought this medical malpractice action individually, as executor of the Ivan T. Sanders estate, and as next friend of Vicky J. Sanders and Byron Ivan Sanders. Mardell is Ivan's widow and Vicky's and Byron's mother. Defendants Thomas D. Ghrist, individually, and Thomas D. Ghrist, a professional corporation, responded with general denials. A jury trial resulted in a defendants' verdict which was followed by plaintiffs' unsuccessful motion for new trial. This appeal ensued and presents us with one issue: did the district court err in refusing to give a requested jury instruction? Our review is limited to the correction of legal errors. Iowa R.App.P. 4.

Dr. Ghrist is a medical doctor specializing in internal medicine diagnostic work. This case arises from allegations that Ghrist failed to properly diagnose and treat a malignant tumor which resulted in Ivan T. Sanders' death. Among the theories under which plaintiffs sought damages was included Sanders' lost chance to survive the disease. We first recognized this theory of recovery in DeBurkarte v. Louvar, 393 N.W.2d 131, 135-38 (Iowa 1986). In DeBurkarte, we allowed recovery for the lost chance of survival, "but only for the lost chance of survival." 393 N.W.2d at 137. In so delimiting a plaintiff's potential recovery, we rejected an approach which views the underlying injury, and not the lost chance of survival, as compensable in cases involving a preexisting condition. Id. Under this rejected approach, "a patient could recover all damages resulting from an injury for which a defendant may only be partly responsible." Id.

The district court submitted the following instruction, number twelve, identical in part to the instruction on proximate cause that we sanctioned in DeBurkarte:

One who undertakes to render services to another which he should recognize is necessary for the protection of the other's person is subject to liability to the other for physical harm resulting from his failure to exercise reasonable care to perform his undertaking if his failure to exercise such care increases the risk of such harm.

The part omitted from this instruction, however, read

for depriving her of the opportunity to receive early treatment and the chance of realizing gain in her life expectancy and physical harm and mental comfort.

Id. at 138 n. 3.

In its marshalling instruction on damages, number thirteen, the district court limited plaintiffs' potential recovery to the following elements of damage: (1) pain, suffering and mental anguish; (2) present value of Ivan Sanders' estate "had he lived out the term of his natural life;" (3) present value of prospective support to his wife; and (4) present value of prospective services to his wife and children. According to this instruction, damages would be recoverable only if "shown by a preponderance of the evidence to have been sustained as a direct and proximate result of the incident alleged herein," i.e., Ghrist's negligence. No mention was made of the potential damages available under the lost chance of survival theory, notwithstanding plaintiffs' request that the following subpart, delineating the damages available under that theory, be included in the marshalling instruction:

The present worth of the opportunity to receive early treatment and the chance of realizing any resulting gain in life expectancy and physical or mental comfort.

This requested instruction is substantially identical to a portion of the instruction we sanctioned in DeBurkarte. See 393 N.W.2d at 138 n. 3.

Parties to a lawsuit are entitled to have their legal theories submitted to a jury as long as they are supported by pleadings and substantial evidence. E.g., Fratzke v. Meyer, 398 N.W.2d 200, 203 (Iowa App.1986). All instructions must be read and construed together, not piecemeal or in artificial isolation. E.g., Clinton Land Co. v. M/S Assocs., Inc., 340 N.W.2d 232, 234 (1983). Although a trial court is free to draft jury instructions in its own language, the instructions must fairly cover the issues presented. E.g., Hoekstra v. Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co., 382 N.W.2d 100, 110 (Iowa 1986). Relatedly, while we will not reverse and order a new trial for marginal or technical omissions, we will do so if the instructions as a whole are insufficient to convey the applicable law. See Adam v....