| Patient In Cardiac Unit Smokes, Argues and Takes Nitroglycerin Against Advice; Dies No Medical Malpractice Where Physician Follows From Various Recognized Methods of Treatment The One He Thinks Best |
In this case, the doctor treating the patient used his professional judgment as to the course of action he took. The patient died, and the court held that simply because other practitioners would have followed a different treatment plan does not make the attending physician liable for medical malpractice. The law does not permit "Monday morning quarterbacking."
Facts: The decedent (Isaac F. Pendarvis) checked into the Mobile Infirmary at 4:15 p.m., on July 5, 1981, for a voluntary heart catheterization, a diagnostic procedure to determine the extent of damage to the blood vessels of the heart resulting from a previous heart attack. The record reveals that the decedent was having chest pains when he checked into the hospital and that he was taking nitroglycerin tablets for that pain. He was examined by Dr. Jerry Jordan, who was to perform the catheterization. Dr. Jordan thereafter called Dr. Pennington, the appellee, to discuss the case. The two doctors determined that the patient should be placed in the telemetry unit so that his heart could be monitored and he could be observed more closely. They wanted the patient to "settle down" before the heart catheterization was performed the following morning.
Between the hours of 5:00 p.m., and 12:30 a.m., the patient remained in the telemetry unit. He was monitored by nurses who were in telephone contact with Dr. Pennington; however, Dr. Pennington never came to the hospital to examine his patient. Dr. Pennington changed the medication dosage several times via telephone and one of the nurses on duty testified that she was never unable to reach Dr. Pennington during the evening. She also testified that the patient seemed to settle down at intervals during the evening although he did have periods of chest pain, and she said, he continued to smoke, argue with his wife, and take nitroglycerin tablets against the nurse's advice.
At approximately 12:37 a.m., the patient suffered another heart attack. He was immediately attended by a physician and the nurse on duty. Dr. Pennington was notified, and he arrived at the hospital at approximately 1:25 a.m. Upon his arrival, he ordered the cessation of resuscitative efforts.
Based on these facts, the trial court granted judgment to the doctor in the lawsuit for medical malpractice brought by the wife of the decedent patient. She took an appeal. The Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed the decision of the trial court.
Court Decision: The plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in refusing to submit the case to the jury. The rule in medical malpractice cases is that to find liability, there must be more than a mere possibility or one possibility among others that the negligence complained of caused the injury; there must be evidence that the negligence probably caused the injury.
We find that although one of the plaintiff's experts stated that Dr. Pennington's absence at the hospital probably caused the patient's death, he later recanted and stated that, of course, no one could know whether the doctor could have saved Mr. Pendarvis if he had been present.
The plaintiff's experts also offered alternative methods of treatment that they claim should have been considered by Dr. Pennington. The law does not permit a physician to be at the mercy of testimony of his expert competitors, whether they agree with him or not.
The rule of law under such circumstances is that: Where there are various recognized methods of treatment the physician is at liberty to follow the one he thinks best, and is not liable for malpractice because expert witnesses give their opinion that some other method would have been preferable.
Pendarvis v. Pennington, Jr. 521 So. 2d 969; 1988 Alabama.
Next Chapter