Williams v. Bennett
Decision Date | 10 December 1980 |
Docket Number | No. B-8638,B-8638 |
Citation | 610 S.W.2d 144 |
Parties | Jim Bill WILLIAMS, et ux., Petitioners, v. T. R. BENNETT, Respondent. |
Court | Texas Supreme Court |
Fisher, Roch & Gallagher, Michael T. Gallagher and Ronald Wardell, Houston, for petitioners.
Zeleskey, Cornelius, Rogers, Hallmark & Hicks, Ralph M. Zeleskey and Paul Clark, Lufkin, for respondent.
This is a medical malpractice action. The trial court rendered a take-nothing judgment for respondent, Dr. T. R. Bennett, notwithstanding the jury verdict that he had negligently discharged petitioner, Janette Williams, from the hospital and that such discharge was a proximate cause of petitioners' injuries. 1 The court of civil appeals affirmed. 582 S.W.2d 577.
The question before us on this appeal is whether there is more than a scintilla of competent evidence to support the jury finding that Mrs. Williams was negligently discharged from the hospital by Dr. Bennett. We hold that there is and, accordingly, reverse the judgments of the courts below. We remand the cause direct to the trial court for a new trial on the merits.
To sustain the action of the trial court in granting respondent's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, it must be determined that there is no evidence to support the jury findings. In making this determination we must review the record in the light most favorable to the jury findings considering only the evidence and inferences which support them, and rejecting the evidence and inferences contrary to the findings. Dodd v. Texas Farm Products Co., 576 S.W.2d 812 (Tex.1979); Douglass v. Panama, Inc., 504 S.W.2d 776 (Tex.1974).
On December 16, 1974, Janette Williams was admitted to the Lufkin Memorial Hospital for a total hysterectomy to be performed by Dr. Bennett. The operation was performed without incident; however, subsequent to the operation, Mrs. Williams developed a serious infection. Commencing on December 22, Mrs. Williams was in severe pain, her stomach was swollen, her temperature was spiked, and she developed a paralytic ileus. On December 23, Dr. Bennett removed part of the skin sutures which caused a large amount of foul smelling pus to discharge from the incision. An incisional abscess became obvious and it was opened by Dr. Bennett. Mrs. Williams was found to have an abnormal white blood count and also an abnormal hemoglobin count. All of these symptoms confirmed that she was suffering from a serious infection. On December 31, Mrs. Williams was discharged from the hospital by Dr. Bennett with instructions to return to his office in about a week for removal of the remainder of the sutures. The sutures were removed by another doctor and Dr. Bennett did not treat Mrs. Williams at any time after her discharge.
There is substantial lay testimony that Mrs. Williams was suffering from the symptoms of an active infection at the time of her discharge and that these symptoms continued. Her condition worsened until, on January 10, she was taken to the emergency room of another hospital where several abscesses in her stomach were opened and treated. There is evidence that she suffered from the aftereffects of the serious infection for several months.
Dr. Bennett did not dispute that Mrs. Williams developed a serious infection in the incision by December 23, 1974. Although he was not able to identify the type of infection until after her discharge, he prescribed several antibiotic drugs in an effort to control the infection. It was his stated opinion that the infection process was in remission by December 31 and that Mrs. Williams was ready for discharge. He testified that this opinion was based largely on her normal temperature. He did not test the white blood count or hemoglobin count to confirm this opinion. Although Dr. Bennett had requested the hospital laboratory to obtain a culture from a smear from the infected area on December 23, he discharged Mrs. Williams before the infection was identified by the laboratory report of January 1, 1975, as a "rare microaerophilic gamma streptococci." He erroneously reported in the discharge summary of Mrs. Williams' hospital record that the "culture was negative."
Dr. Bennett was the only medical witness and the court of civil appeals affirmed the take-nothing judgment because he testified that in his opinion Mrs. Williams was ready for discharge on December 31. The court of civil appeals relied on well-settled Texas law that a patient has no cause of action against his doctor for malpractice, either in diagnosis or treatment, unless he proves by a doctor of the same school of practice as the defendant that the diagnosis or treatment complained of was negligence and that it was a proximate cause of the patient's injuries. Hart v. Van Zandt, 399 S.W.2d 791 (Tex.1965); Bowles v. Bourdon, 148 Tex. 1, 219 S.W.2d 779 (1949); Smith v. Guthrie, 557 S.W.2d 163 (Tex.Civ.App.-Fort Worth 1977, writ ref'd n. r. e.).
We agree with the rule of law stated by the court of civil appeals. However, it is our opinion that there is some evidence to support the jury finding that Dr. Bennett violated the medical standard set by his own testimony. Dr. Bennett testified that it would be bad medical...
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