Kelly on Malpractice

In Flowers v. HCA Health Services of Tennessee, Inc., 2006 WL 627183 (Tenn.Ct.App.), the widower brought an action for medical negligence against HCA for the death of Edith Flowers, his wife, who died due to a morphine overdose while at Southern Hills Medical Center. Edith Flowers was admitted to the hospital to undergo surgery. She was placed on a Patient Controlled Analgesic—a pump by which she could self-administer morphine via a hand-operated control. Mrs. Flowers remained hospitalized and continued to experience pain throughout the day and evening. A nurse checked on Mrs. Flowers in the early morning hours the next day and found Mrs. Flowers dead. Plaintiffs’ negligence action was based in part on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. HCA filed a motion to summarily dismiss the res ipsa loquitur claim, contending that the Plaintiffs could not prevail on that claim due to their concession the morphine pump was not defective. The trial court granted HCA’s motion for summary judgment as to that issue. The Court of Appeals held that the fact the PCA pump was working properly did not preclude negligence by an HCA employee. It is not essential that the “thing” or “instrumentality” be defective for res ipsa loquitur to apply. Where the evidence shows an injury inflicted, and also the physical thing inflicting it, and “that thing does not usually, or in the ordinary course, produce such a result where due care is exercised by those in charge of it,” it may be inferred that those so in charge of the thing inflicting the injury failed to exercise due care; that is, that they were guilty of negligence.

Remember, the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is a form of circumstantial evidence that permits, but does not compel, a jury to infer negligence from the circumstances of an injury. Res ipsa loquitur does not dispense with the plaintiff’s burden of proof. It merely allows an inference of negligence where the jury has a common knowledge or understanding that events which resulted in the plaintiff’s injury do not ordinarily occur unless someone was negligent. The weight of any inference to be drawn from the evidence is for the determination of the jury. The Supreme Court held that expert testimony may be used in medical malpractice cases to establish a prima facie case of negligence under res ipsa loquitur. Seavers v. Methodist Medical College of Oak Ridge, 9 S.W.3d 86 (Tenn.1999). Therefore, it is a good idea to have an expert to supplement your res ipsa case.

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