Opinion ID: 2413921
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lost chance

Text: Dr. Blackmon cites Section 433B of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, Comment (b), which says it is essential to recovery that there be ... evidence from which reasonable men may conclude that it is more probable that the event was caused by the defendant than that it was not. (Emphasis added.) He cites lost chance of survival cases in which the event was death, the action brought was one for wrongful death, and the courts held that, because at the time of the alleged negligence the victim had a 50% or less chance of survival, it was not probable that the death was caused by the negligence. Cooper v. Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, Inc., 27 Ohio St.2d 242, 272 N.E.2d 97 (1971); Gooding v. University Hospital Building, Inc., 445 So.2d 1015 (Fla.1984). He then asks us to apply, by analogy, those cases to the one before us now in which the event is composed of the pain, suffering, and loss of wages of a living human being who contends this composite event was brought on because the early detection of his cancerous condition was not made known to him. Even if we agreed with the theory expressed in the Cooper and Gooding wrongful death cases, and we are not at all certain we do, we would not apply it here. The jury was instructed, properly, that if it found that Mr. Langley's evidence showed he sustained damages due to Dr. Blackmon's negligence it should find in favor of Mr. Langley. It was instructed with the proper definition of proximate cause, and then told that if its decision were in favor of Mr. Langley. It was instructed with the proper definition of proximate cause, and then told that if its decision were in favor of Mr. Langley it should fix an amount of money to compensate him for his injuries, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and the present value of any loss of ability to earn in the future. Then the court instructed the jury, again properly, that it could not award damages for any pain, mental anguish, disability, loss of earnings or earning capacity that ... have risen because of his original ailment since Dr. Blackmon is chargeable only for the damages, if any, that naturally follow from any delay in the treatment of James Langley's lung cancer that might have been proximately caused by negligence of Dr. Blackmon. It is clear to us that the jury found, in accordance with these standard instructions, that Mr. Langley suffered more and lost more as a result of Dr. Blackmon's conduct than he would have suffered or lost had he known to obtain treatment for his cancer when it was discovered rather than some seven or eight months later. Affirmed.