[Download] "Pearl W. Coyle v. L. C. Prieto" by Western Section, at Jackson Court of Appeals of Tennessee * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free

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eBook details

• Title: Pearl W. Coyle v. L. C. Prieto
• Author : Western Section, at Jackson Court of Appeals of Tennessee
• Release Date : January 08, 1991
• Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
• Pages : * pages
• Size : 59 KB

Description

This is a medical malpractice case. Plaintiff, Pearl W. Coyle, brought this action against Dr. L. C. Prieto, Jr. ("Dr. Prieto"
or "defendant"), a pathologist, in the Circuit Court of Shelby County for damages alleged to have resulted from a misdiagnosis
of plaintiff's pathology specimen. Plaintiff was mistakenly diagnosed as having lung cancer, the result of which was the unnecessary
removal of a portion of her left lung. Following a jury trial, a verdict was returned in favor of plaintiff against defendant
in the amount of $200,000. On appeal, defendant presents four issues for our consideration. Did the trial court err in: (1)
allowing plaintiff's expert witness to testify as to the standard of care alleged to have been violated by defendant; (2)
refusing to admit into evidence an x-ray report dated April 9, 1984, which was a part of the plaintiff's medical records;
(3) denying defendant's motion for a directed verdict; and (4) failing to find that the jury verdict in favor of plaintiff
was excessive? We resolve the first three issues in favor of plaintiff. However, we find the jury verdict to be excessive
to the extent that a new trial on damages only is dictated. Many of the underlying facts are not disputed. At the time of the questionable surgery, plaintiff was a sixty-seven-year-old
retired registered nurse. In 1982 she was diagnosed as having a lymphoma, for which she underwent intensive chemotherapy.
In February, 1983 she was re-evaluated and found free of cancer. In April, 1984 plaintiff was readmitted to St. Francis Hospital
for another re-evaluation check-up. At that time, a chest x-ray revealed an abnormality or density in the upper lobe of her
left lung. As the appropriate diagnostic procedure, her physician ordered a fine-needle biopsy from the suspicious area. The
biopsy was performed by a radiologist at St. Francis Hospital. Tissue samples were mounted on several slides which were then
processed. Defendant's cytotechnologist reviewed the slides prior to processing them. One particular slide, identified as
No. 2897, was observed and interpreted by defendant, who made a diagnosis that there were "several adenocarcinoma cells present."
This information was conveyed to plaintiff's surgeon, Dr. Wilhite. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Wilhite surgically removed the
upper lobe of plaintiff's left lung.

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