Young v. Gastro-Intestinal Center, Inc.

Decision Date24 March 2005
Docket NumberNo. 04-595.,04-595.
Citation205 S.W.3d 741
PartiesMaggie YOUNG, Individually, and as Executrix of the Estate of Earnest Young, Appellant, v. THE GASTRO-INTESTINAL CENTER, INC., and Diane Brown, R.N., Appellees.
CourtArkansas Supreme Court

Sheila F. Campbell, Little Rock; and Polewski & Associates, by: John P. Polewski, DeSoto, for appellant.

Friday, Eldredge & Clark, by: Laura Hensley Smith and T. Michelle Ator, Little Rock, for appellee.

BETTY C. DICKEY, Justice.

On January 20, 1999, Ernest Young underwent an esophagogastroduoenoscopy (EGD) at the Gastro-Intestinal Center (Center), a free-standing endoscopy center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Dr. Debra Morrison, M.D., performed this first procedure, telling Mr. Young that he would be sedated with the prescription medications Valium and Demerol. Dr. Morrison explained that, because he was to receive the medications, he must not drive himself home following the procedure. Before the January 20 EGD, Mr. Young had signed a form explaining that he understood that he was not to drive, and that Mrs. Maggie Young, his wife, would drive Mr. Young home. Much later, it was determined that Mr. Young had driven himself home.

Mr. Young returned to the Center on January 29, 1999, for a colonoscopy but, this time, he did not bring his wife. At the Center, Mr. Young told Michelle Ferrell, the receptionist, that after the procedure his friend Trundle Smith would drive him home. Ms. Ferrell recorded Smith's name, and Mr. Young was checked in to the Center. He again signed a form explaining that he understood that he was not to drive following the procedure.

After the colonoscopy was completed and Trundle Smith had not arrived, Diane Brown, a registered nurse, learned that Mr. Young intended to drive himself home. After getting dressed, Mr. Young went with Nurse Brown into an office at the Center, and the nurse called his wife in El Dorado, Arkansas. Mrs. Young told Nurse Brown that there was no one available to pick up Mr. Young. The nurse then attempted to persuade Mr. Young to wait at the Center for the next several hours, or until someone was available to drive him home. When it became apparent that Mr. Young was going to leave on his own, Nurse Brown requested that he sign a form indicating that he understood that he should not drive and that he was leaving against medical advice. Mr. Young signed the form, left the Center, and drove himself to another medical office, where he underwent another medical procedure. Subsequently, while driving home to El Dorado, Arkansas, from that facility, he was injured in an one-car collision and died several months later.

Mrs. Young and Mr. Young's estate (Mrs. Young) sued the Center and Nurse Brown, alleging that they had failed to exercise the degree of skill and care required of members of the profession practicing in Little Rock, Arkansas, and that that failure constituted negligence. The trial court granted the summary judgment motions of the Center and Nurse Brown. Mrs. Young appealed to the Arkansas Court of Appeals, which reversed and remanded. This court granted the Center's and Nurse Brown's petition for review, and we consider this appeal as though it had been originally filed in this court. Dixon v. Salvation Army, 360 Ark. 309, 201 S.W.3d 386 (2005); Sharp County Sheriff's Office v. Ozark Acres, 349 Ark. 20, 22, 75 S.W.3d 690 (2002). Mrs. Young argues two points on appeal: (1) that the trial court erred in entering judgment against her on the ground that the Gastro-Intestinal Center owed no duty to Earnest Young as a matter of law; and, (2) if the trial court intended to enter judgment against her on the basis of causation, it was error to do so. We find no error and affirm.

A trial court may grant summary judgment only when it is clear that there are no genuine issues of material fact to be litigated, and that the party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Harris v. City of Fort Smith, 86 Ark.App. 20, 158 S.W.3d 733 (2004); Craighead Elec. Coop. Corp. v. Craighead County, 352 Ark. 76, 98 S.W.3d 414 (2003); Cole v. Laws, 349 Ark. 177, 76 S.W.3d 878 (2002). Once the moving party has established a prima facie case showing entitlement to summary judgment, the opposing party must meet proof with proof and demonstrate the existence of a material issue of fact. Id. On appellate review, we determine if summary judgment was appropriate based on whether the evidentiary items presented by the moving party in support of its motion leave a material fact unanswered. Id. This court views the evidence in a light most favorable to the party against whom the motion was filed, resolving all doubts and inferences against the moving party. Harris, supra; Adams v. Arthur, 333 Ark. 53, 969 S.W.2d 598 (1998).

Before addressing Mrs. Young's points on appeal, we look at whether Mrs. Young proved the applicable standard of care. In Williamson v. Elrod, 348 Ark. 307, 72 S.W.3d 489 (2002), this court held that the burden of proof for a plaintiff in a medical malpractice case is fixed by statute. The statute requires that in any action for a medical injury, expert testimony is necessary regarding the skill and learning possessed and used by medical care providers engaged in that speciality in the same, or similar, locality. Id.; Dodson v. Charter Behavioral Health Sys., Inc., 335 Ark. 96, 983 S.W.2d 98 (1998). In Reagan v. City of Piggott, 305 Ark. 77, 805 S.W.2d 636 (1991), we affirmed summary judgment where the trial court ruled that there was no material issue of fact remaining because the testimony of the plaintiff's expert witness, a physician, did not meet the burden of proof under the statute:

(a) In any action for medical injury, when the asserted negligence does not lie within the jury's comprehension as a matter of common knowledge, the plaintiff shall have the burden of proving:

(1) By means of expert testimony provided only by a medical care provider of the same specialty as the defendant, the degree of skill and learning ordinarily possessed and used by members of the profession of the medical care provider in good standing, engaged in the same type of practice or specialty in the locality in which he or she practices or in a similar locality;

(2) By means of expert testimony provided only by a medical care provider of the same specialty as the defendant that the medical care provider failed to act in accordance with that standard; and,

(3) By means of expert testimony provided only by a qualified medical expert that as a proximate result thereof the injured person suffered injuries that would not otherwise have occurred.

Ark.Code Ann. § 16-114-205 (1987).

In Williamson, the doctor never described the degree of skill and learning ordinarily possessed by doctors in good standing in Little Rock or a similar locale. Williamson, supra. The statute and case law are specific in stating that there must be an attestation by an expert regarding this locality or a similar one, and this court has affirmed summary judgments for failure to do so. Reagan, supra. Here, the expert witnesses, Nurse Cathy Dykes and Dr. Fred Sutton, both from Texas, failed to testify regarding the standard of care in Little Rock, Arkansas. Therefore, Mrs. Young did not establish the requisite standard of care.

Mrs. Young's first point on appeal is that the trial court erred in entering summary judgment against her on the ground that the Center and Nurse Brown owed no duty to Mr. Young as a matter of law. We find no error and affirm the trial court. The burden of proof in a medical malpractice action is defined by Ark.Code Ann. § 16-114-206, which provides in part:

(b)(1) Without limiting the applicability of subsection (a) of this section, when the plaintiff claims that a medical care provider failed to supply adequate information to obtain the informed consent of the injured person, the plaintiff shall have the burden of proving that the treatment, procedure, or surgery was performed in other than an emergency situation and that the medical care provider did not supply that type of information regarding the treatment, procedure, or surgery as would customarily have been given to a patient in the position of the injured person or other persons authorized to give consent for such a patient by other medical care providers with similar training and experience at the time of the treatment, procedure, or surgery in the locality in which the medical care provider practices or in a similar locality.

In any action for medical injury, the plaintiff must prove the applicable standard of care, that the medical provider failed to act in accordance with that standard, and that such failure was a proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries. See Williamson v. Elrod, 348 Ark. 307, 72 S.W.3d 489 (2002). It is not enough for an expert to opine that there was negligence that was the proximate cause of the alleged damages. Id. The opinion must be stated within a reasonable degree of medical certainty or probability. Id.

Mrs. Young argues that the Center and Nurse Brown breached three distinct duties to Mr. Young, including the duty: (1) not to sedate a patient without a driver; (2) not to discharge a patient from the recovery room; and, (3) not to discharge a sedated patient to drive himself. First, the Center has a "Patient Admission" policy that requires the staff to ensure that no patient is sedated unless he has someone else to drive him home. This policy states, "Upon arrival for a procedure previously scheduled through the attending physician's office, the patient will proceed as follows[.] . . . Confirm and give name of responsible adult/driver[.] ... If the patient's family/companion decides to leave the Center during the procedure time, the receptionist should obtain the name and expected time of their return. A phone number should be exchanged between the patient's family/driver and the Center for communication in case of an...

To continue reading

Request your trial
28 cases
  • Leavitt v. Brockton Hosp., Inc.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • June 9, 2009
    ...to unidentified third parties to control [the patient] and prevent her from driving upon release"); Young v. Gastro-Intestinal Ctr., Inc., 361 Ark. 209, 214-216, 205 S.W.3d 741 (2005) (rejecting argument that medical center's policy, which required staff to ensure that no colonoscopy patien......
  • Kowalski v. Rose Drugs of Dardanelle, Inc.
    • United States
    • Arkansas Supreme Court
    • February 9, 2011
    ...the opposing party must meet proof with proof and demonstrate the existence of a material issue of fact. Young v. Gastro–Intestinal Ctr., 361 Ark. 209, 205 S.W.3d 741 (2005). On appellate review, we determine if summary judgment was appropriate based on whether the evidentiary items present......
  • Yanmar Co. v. Slater
    • United States
    • Arkansas Supreme Court
    • March 8, 2012
    ...the law of negligence requires as an essential element that the plaintiff show that a duty of care was owed. Young v. Gastro–Intestinal Ctr., 361 Ark. 209, 205 S.W.3d 741 (2005); Young v. Paxton, 316 Ark. 655, 873 S.W.2d 546 (1994). Duty is a concept that arises out of the recognition that ......
  • Tuohey ex rel. Wrongful Death Beneficiaries Bryant v. Chenal Healthcare, LLC
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas
    • May 17, 2017
    ...of 2013. See, e.g., Paulino v. QHG of Springdale, Inc., 2012 Ark. 55, 9-10, 386 S.W.3d 462 (2012); Young v. Gastro-Intestinal Ctr., Inc., 361 Ark. 209, 221, 205 S.W.3d 741, 750 (2005); McQuay v. Guntharp, 336 Ark. 534, 986 S.W.2d 850, 853 (1999); Howard v. Ozark Guidance Ctr., 326 Ark. 224,......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 firm's commentaries
  • 50-State Survey of State Court Decisions Supporting Expert-Related Judicial Gatekeeping
    • United States
    • LexBlog United States
    • June 1, 2023
    ...cases. “[C]ourts, however, must not abandon their role as a gatekeeper [of] expert opinions.” Young v. Gastro-Intestinal Center, Inc., 205 S.W.3d 741, 748 (Ark. 2005). Bayer CropScience LP v. Schafer, 385 S.W.3d 822, 833 (Ark. 2011) (recognizing a “gatekeeping requirement” whereby “a circui......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT