Title: Baptist Med. Centers v. Trippe
Citation: 643 So. 2d 955
Docket Number: 1920768
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: July 1, 1994

643 So. 2d 955 (1994)
BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTERS, BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER MONTCLAIR
v.
James L. TRIPPE, Sr., as administrator of the Estate of Nancy Pauline Trippe, deceased.
1920768.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
July 1, 1994.
Charles E. Sharp, Joel A. Williams and Stephanie R. White of Sadler, Sullivan, Herring &amp; Sharp, P.C., Birmingham, for appellant.
G. Whit Drake and Thomas Marshall Powell of Emond &amp; Vines, Birmingham, for appellee.
Sydney Lavender and James C. Barton of Johnston, Barton, Proctor, Swedlaw &amp; Naff, Birmingham, for amicus curiae Alabama Hosp. Ass'n.
PER CURIAM.
Baptist Medical Centers, Baptist Medical Center Montclair appeals from a judgment based on a $1,100,000 jury verdict in favor of James L. Trippe, Sr., as administrator of the estate of Nancy Pauline Trippe. We reverse and remand.
On November 7, 1989, Nancy Trippe was voluntarily admitted to the psychiatric unit of Baptist Medical Center Montclair ("BMC"). She had been diagnosed by her doctor, Dr. David Morrison, as suffering from "bipolar disorder with suicidal thoughts." Upon her admission to BMC, Trippe was searched by one of the nurses; however, the search did not rise to the magnitude of a "strip search." She was required to remove all clothing and put on a hospital gown. It is undisputed that no body cavity search was done. Although Dr. Morrison had reserved a less restrictive room on the psychiatric floor for Trippe, she was transferred to a more restrictive psychiatric wing when she refused to sign a "no suicide contract." Pursuant to Dr. Morrison's orders, a nurse was to personally observe Trippe every 15 minutes and Trippe was to be monitored via video in between these observations. She was to receive individual *956 and group occupational therapy, as well as recreational therapy, and she was also to be treated with antidepressants.
On November 8, Trippe made no suicidal gestures. On November 9, Dr. Morrison doubled Trippe's dosage of the sedative Elavil and, despite the fact that she voiced a "death wish" for Veterans' Day, Trippe visited with her mother for approximately two hours that afternoon. Her mother testified that during the visit Trippe seemed to be in a good mood. After her mother left, Trippe was observed, on the video monitor, standing on her bed and reaching toward the light fixture in her room. As a result of this unusual behavior, she was moved to another room. In her new room, everything was removed except the mattress. The electricity to the sockets in the room was cut off to prevent Trippe from injuring herself.
Once Trippe was placed in the room, the nurse returned to the nurse's station. There, watching the video monitor, she saw Trippe rubbing her wrists with the metal clip on her identification bracelet. Nurses went to her room and Trippe voluntarily relinquished the metal clip to them. Upon returning to their station, however, the nurses noticed on the monitor that Trippe had something in her hands; they immediately returned to Trippe's room and took from her a book of matches and a cigarette. Upon again returning to their station, the nurses observed Trippe lift up her sweater and pull something else out. They went back to the room and saw through the plexiglass that she was holding a gun to her chest. While one of the nurses called for assistance, Trippe shot and killed herself.
Her father, James L. Trippe, Sr., sued BMC and Dr. Morrison, alleging that they had negligently provided medical services to Trippe and that they had breached the standard of care for treatment of psychiatric patients.[1] Throughout the trial, BMC contended that Trippe had smuggled the gun (a derringer) into BMC by concealing it inside a body cavity. BMC argued that it did not breach the standard of care and that it could not have foreseen that Trippe would conceal such a weapon inside her vagina or rectum. In support of their argument, BMC called expert Lawden Yates, who had examined the gun at the request of the plaintiff. He stated that when he examined the derringer on February 24, 1992, it was noticeably covered with human epithelial cells secreted from a body cavity. Yates further testified that he found no evidence that the gun had been fired or cleaned before he examined it. The gun was returned to the plaintiff's attorneys, and it was given to the defendants' attorneys on March 5, 1992.
The trial court admitted Yates's testimony, but it refused to admit the testimony of BMC's expert Phylis Rolan, who examined the gun on March 16, 1992, after it had been turned over to the defendants by the plaintiff. Rolan's deposition indicates that she would have testified that upon examining the gun she found that it had been cleaned and fired. Rolan said she found no evidence of epithelial cells on the derringer. The trial judge refused to allow Rolan to testify, on the grounds that her testimony would insinuate that the lawyers for the plaintiff had cleaned the gun after their own expert had found evidence that the gun had been concealed in a body cavity. BMC, however, argues that despite whatever conclusions might be drawn from Rolan's testimony, it should have been allowed to introduce Rolan's testimony in an effort to show the jury that the gun that was received into evidence was not in the same condition as when it was examined by Yates.
Liberty National Life Insurance Co. v. Weldon, 267 Ala. 171, 100 So. 2d 696, 712 (1957).
While this Court can understand the trial court's reluctance to allow opposing counsel to accuse the plaintiff's attorneys of destroying evidence, we conclude that the trial court erred in refusing to allow BMC to offer evidence tending to show that someone *957 unknown to it had cleaned the derringer after it had been examined by Yates but before it was examined by Rolan. The gun was introduced into evidence with no trace of epithelial cells; Trippe invited the jury to inspect the derringer used in the suicide; and Trippe's attorneys urged the jury to refuse to believe that Trippe had smuggled the derringer into the hospital inside a body cavity. Consequently, the jury was entitled to consider Rolan's testimony and draw conclusions therefrom, even if one of those conclusions was that someone had cleaned the derringer between the time Yates examined it and the time Rolan examined it. BMC was clearly entitled to show the jury that the derringer was not in the same condition at the trial as it was when it was when Lawden Yates examined it.
Trippe contends that any error committed in this regard was harmless because, he argues, an expert testified that a strip search should have been done on Nancy Trippe when she checked into the hospital and that such a search would have or should have found the gun. While it is not clear whether a strip search would have located a weapon concealed inside a body cavity, we need not consider whether the error in regard to Rolan's testimony was harmless, because this case must be reversed on yet another ground.
At trial, the following occurred during Trippe's examination of Nurse Goble, a witness for BMC:
"(Bench conference outside the hearing of the jury.)
On appeal, BMC contends that the trial court erred in admitting evidence offered by Trippe of subsequent remedial measures, specifically, BMC's change in policy following Trippe's suicide to allow routine strip searches of psychiatric patients. Trippe contends that he was entitled to impeach Nurse Goble's testimony that the procedure in place at the time of the suicide was *962 the "best" procedure available, based on an exception to the rule regarding subsequent remedial measures; however, it is clear from the record that the testimony violated that rule and that the impeachment exception thereto was not applicable in this instance.
This Court wrote in Phar-Mor, Inc. v. Goff, 594 So. 2d 1213 (Ala.1992):
"Holland v. First National Bank of Brewton, 519 So. 2d 460, 462 (Ala.1987) (quoting Banner Welders, Inc. v. Knighton, 425 So. 2d 441, 444-45 (Ala.1982)).
"In Holland, this Court established a three-factor test for the admissibility of evidence of subsequent remedial measures offered for `other purposes':
"Id. at 462 (citing Charles W. Gamble and Gwen L. Windle, Remedial Measures Doctrine in Alabama: From Exclusion to Admissibility and the Death of Policy, 37 Ala.L.Rev. 547 (1986))." [Emphasis in Holland.]
594 So. 2d  at 1216.
The Court wrote further in Phar-Mor:
594 So. 2d  at 1219.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded for a new trial.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
HORNSBY, C.J., and MADDOX, SHORES, STEAGALL, KENNEDY, INGRAM and COOK, JJ., concur.
HOUSTON, J., concurs specially.
HOUSTON, Justice (concurring specially).
After Ms. Trippe's apparent suicide, but on the same night, George Ruff, BMC's "in-house" counsel and vice-president, came to the hospital and obtained statements from witnesses, because, based upon his 21 years' experience as a lawyer, he believed that a wrongful death action was likely; the statements, he felt, would be needed to prepare for such an action. In Sims v. Knollwood Park Hospital, 511 So. 2d 154, 156 (Ala.1987), this Court held that a court must look at the "circumstances of the incident report's creation" when it is presented with an issue involving a right to discover. In Sims, a risk manager prepared a routine report, a copy of which would ultimately be sent to lawyers, although the report was not prepared at their request. The circumstances of the preparation of the statement in this case distinguished this statement from the one in Sims. Therefore, in preparation for a new trial, the plaintiff must meet the requirements of Rule 26(b)(3), A.R.Civ.P., in order to compel production of the statements obtained by Ruff on the night of Ms. Trippe's death.
[1]  Dr. Morrison has settled with the plaintiff and is not a party to this appeal.