Title: Phillips v. Anesthesia Services, PC

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

565 So. 2d 127 (1990)
Alfred T. PHILLIPS, as executor of the estate of Rachel Phillips, deceased
v.
ANESTHESIA SERVICES, P.C.
88-1206.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
May 25, 1990.
D. Leon Ashford of Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton, Birmingham, for appellant.
A. Neil Hudgens, Michael S. McGlothren and Thomas H. Nolan, Jr. of Brown, Hudgens, Richardson, Mobile, for appellee.
ADAMS, Justice.
This is a wrongful death case wherein the plaintiff, Alfred T. Phillips, contends that the defendant, Anesthesia Services, P.C., was negligent in the treatment of his wife, Rachel Phillips, and that as a consequence of its negligence she died at Mobile Infirmary. The only issue raised for our review concerns a jury charge given by the trial judge. The pertinent facts of the case are set forth below:
Rachel Phillips was transferred from Springhill Memorial Hospital to Mobile Infirmary in June 1986, while she was having a heart attack. She was given medication in an attempt to stabilize her condition,[1] and a tube was inserted into her throat in order to aid her breathing. Her condition necessitated the performance of balloon angioplasty[2]*128 and, subsequently, an intra-aortic balloon was inserted into the aorta. Dr. Murphy testified that the intra-aortic procedure is extremely extraordinary. Because of her condition, she was placed on a ventilator in intensive care and was carefully monitored. On July 4, 1986, Dr. Gaeton D. Lorino, a consulting physician, removed the endotracheal tube (the tube in her throat) whereupon she began having trouble, including stridor, which Dr. Murphy described as an upper airway obstruction. As a result of her difficulty, Dr. Lorino, deciding to reintubate her and have her placed back on a ventilator, called David Muscat, a certified registered nurse anesthetist employed by Anesthesia Services, P.C., to perform the reintubation.[3] Muscat attempted the procedure, and after he had purportedly completed it, Ms. Phillips went into cardiopulmonary arrest and her heart stopped, but she was subsequently revived after the tube was removed. Muscat then made another tracheal intubation and Ms. Phillips was again placed on the ventilator. She was comatose and died thereafter. Alfred Phillips sued Anesthesia Services, P.C., Dr. Gaeton D. Lorino, Mobile Infirmary, and David Muscat, alleging that the first intubation performed by Muscat was actually an intubation into the esophagus instead of into the trachea, and resulted in brain damage due to lack of oxygen and, eventually, in the death of Rachel Phillips. Summary judgment was entered in favor of Dr. Lorino and Mobile Infirmary. Muscat was voluntarily dismissed at the close of Mr. Phillips's case. Following a judgment based on a jury verdict in favor of Anesthesia Services, Phillips appealed, arguing that the trial court erred in instructing the jury as to what he calls the "sole causation" charge requested by Anesthesia Services. We affirm.
The jury instruction complained of is the following limited supplemental charge:
Mr. Phillips argues that there was no evidence at trial of any negligence on the part of Dr. Lorino and, therefore, he argues, the trial judge only confused the jury by giving it such a charge. Thus, Mr. Phillips contends, we should reverse the judgment and remand the cause for a new trial. Although there was testimony from other doctors that they disagreed with the decision of Dr. Lorino to extubate Rachel Phillips, both parties agree that there was no evidence of negligence on his part offered during the trial. While ordinarily the charge complained of by Phillips might constitute error, in this case we conclude that Phillips invited any error by requesting the following charges at the close of the evidence:
The trial judge charged the jury in accordance with the above requests and further instructed the jury as follows:
The record indicates that counsel for Anesthesia Services objected to these charges and requested that if the judge was going to charge the jury with regard to combined negligence, then a charge with regard to "sole causation" due to the negligence of a third party was likewise appropriate. The trial judge noted the exceptions to the charges, but did not give the requested "sole causation" instruction. Then, after the jury had retired, it returned and requested further instructions with regard to any negligence on the part of Dr. Lorino, as follows:
The trial judge then gave the jury the "sole causation" charge quoted above and gave again the combined negligence instructions initially requested by Mr. Phillips. The jury thereafter returned a verdict in favor of Anesthesia Services, P.C. If anyone placed the issue of Dr. Lorino's negligence before the jury, it was Phillips who did so.
Osborn v. Johns, 468 So. 2d 103, 110 (Ala. 1985), citing Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Beasley, 272 Ala. 153, 157, 130 So. 2d 178, 182 (1961). Therefore, we conclude that there was no error in the giving of the additional charge.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment is due to be, and it hereby is, affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
HORNSBY, C.J., and MADDOX, ALMON and STEAGALL, JJ., concur.
[1]  The patient's blood pressure began to fall; her heart stopped; and cardiopulmonary resuscitation became necessary. Dr. Leon Murphy testified that as a result of the heart attack and its complications, Rachel Phillips experienced cardiogenic shock. Dr. Murphy testified that, in his opinion, Ms. Phillips experienced some brain damage due to the fact that several hours passed before sufficient oxygen was restored to her brain.
[2]  Balloon angioplasty, according to Dr. Murphy, is the insertion into an artery of a balloon, which is inflated in an attempt to restore blood flow to the heart.
[3]  Dr. Murphy testified that, according to Ms. Phillips's chart, approximately 25 minutes elapsed before there was an attempt to reintubate her.