Opinion ID: 1967565
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Dr Robert Dobrzynski

Text: Dr. Robert Dobrzynski, a hematologist, was qualified as an expert with respect to the admissibility of attending and admitting physicians, hospital medical records, and hematology and areas relating to hematology. Dr. Dobrzynski was not offered as an expert on ION, and the trial court held that he was not qualified to testify about ischemia or ION. Nevertheless, Dr. Dobrzynski testified that ION and ischemia are essentially equivalent, that ischemia is treatable, and that it can be prevented. Dr. Haidak now argues the trial court erred when it refused to allow Dr. Dobrzynski to respond to the question: [c]an you tell from the records who breached the standard of care by not treating Dr. Haidak once he started loses his vision? Since this question goes to the standard of care, not to causation, it is irrelevant to our analysis of the latter issue. Moreover, subsequent testimony by Dr. Dobrzynski on cross examination reveals that the court did not abuse its discretion when it limited testimony on direct: Q: [With respect to ION] your experience is essentially zero? A: Essentially zero, yeah. Q: And you've never treated a patient with it? A: No I have not. Q: You've never been called to consult on it? A: I wouldn't be, no. Q: [T]he fact is that no other organ was affected by ischemia throughout this man's body, isn't that true? A: That appears to be true, yes. Q: You don't know because you're not an ophthalmologist whether that means to us and to a neurophthalmologist that there must have been something different about the eye, does it? A: I have no way of knowing that. There's no way of knowing that, no. Regardless of whether ION should be considered an area relating to hematology, we cannot fault the trial judge in ruling that Dr. Dobrzynski's skill, knowledge, or experience with ION would not have materially aided the finder of fact. Dyas, supra . Therefore there was no abuse of discretion with respect to the testimonial limitations placed on this witness.