Opinion ID: 1896723
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: past and future pain and suffering

Text: Mrs. James argues that Mrs. Jackson testified that her neck, arms, back and leg were all injured in the accident. Mrs. Jackson complained of a severe reoccurrence of neck pain in September of 1984, and was hospitalized for five days. She was treated with cervical traction, physical therapy and medication. Following this episode, she was again hospitalized in January of 1985. Throughout this time, the opinion of Dr. David E. Lipton, an orthopedic surgeon, was that Mrs. Jackson was in pain. In addition to Dr. Lipton, Dr. Kendall Blake, orthopedic specialist, testified as an expert witness for Mrs. James. Although Blake had not examined the plaintiff, he studied the hospital records. Blake testified that the medicine administration record from the September, 1984 hospitalization showed that the plaintiff never requested pain or sleep medication while she was in the hospital and that during the January hospitalization Mrs. Jackson asked for only one pain pill. Along with the evidence from the chart, Dr. Blake made reference to Mrs. Jackson's x-rays which showed no signs of a muscle spasm. The doctor explained that although x-rays do not actually show the muscles, one can see the results of a muscle spasm on an x-ray  a muscle spasm of the neck causes straightening of the usual curve of the neck. Dr. Blake's opinion was that Mrs. Jackson had no significant injury in the accident. Additionally, Dr. Blake opined that the x-rays evidenced old traumas from plaintiff's prior accidents, thereby evidencing a pre-existing orthopedic condition. However, the doctor further testified that, assuming Jackson had no neck problem prior to this accident, but did so after this accident, this accident did aggravate her pre-existing bone condition. In rebuttal to Dr. Blake's opinion, counsel for Mrs. Jackson points out that Dr. Blake testified for the defendant after spending a total of one hour examining the hospital record. Thereto, counsel argues that Dr. Blake never examined Mrs. Jackson. Yet, counsel for Mrs. Jackson balks, He testified that because he did not see any objective x-ray change, that in his opinion, Mrs. Jackson was not hurt at all in the accident. In conclusion, Jackson asserts that the jury was highly prejudiced by Dr. Blake's testimony, giving little weight to the pain Mrs. Jackson suffered in the past and was likely to suffer in the future.