Opinion ID: 2639110
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Did the Trial Court Err in Instructing the Jury Regarding Proximate Cause Defense?

Text: Furthermore, the jury was instructed on Mays' theory of defense that the physicians' negligent treatment of Morton was the sole proximate cause of his death. However, Mays complains that the trial court erred in giving Instruction No. 16 which related to Mays' defense that the physicians' negligence was the sole cause of Morton's death. He contends the instruction was internally inconsistent, could have misled the jury, and deprived him of a meaningful instruction on his theory of defense. When reviewing challenges to jury instructions, this court must consider the instructions as a whole and not isolate any one instruction. `If the instructions properly and fairly state the law as applied to the facts of the case, and a jury could not reasonably have been misled by them, the instructions do not constitute reversible error even if they are in some way erroneous. [Citations omitted.]' State v. Peterson, 273 Kan. 217, 221, 42 P.3d 137 (2002). Instruction No. 16 read as follows: One of the theories of the defense is that negligent treatment by physicians at the Bethany Medical Center was the sole proximate cause of death of Joseph Morton and not the gunshot wound he sustained. You are instructed that if you find defendants did cause the injuries inflicted on the person of Joseph Morton, then you must determine whether the acts of the defendants contributed to the death of Joseph Morton. If you find defendant's [ sic ] acts contributed to the death of Joseph Morton, then responsibility cannot be avoided by the fact that independent causes such as negligence of others also contributed to the death. However, if you find the proximate cause of death resulted solely from erroneous treatment of the physicians, you must acquit the defendants of the offense charged of any unlawful homicide charge. . . . Instruction No. 16 must be read in context. The trial court gave the jury three other instructions also dealing with proximate cause. Instruction No. 13 read: To constitute an unlawful homicide . . . there must be, in addition to the death of a human being, an unlawful act which was a proximate cause of that death. The proximate cause of a death is a cause which, in natural and continuous sequence, produces the death and without which the death would not have occurred. There may be more than one proximate cause of death. When the conduct of two or more persons contributes concurrently as proximate causes of a death, the conduct of each of said persons is a proximate cause of death regardless of the extent to which each contributes to the death. A cause is concurrent if it was operative at the moment of death and acted with another cause to produce the death. Instruction No. 14 read: Where the original injury is a proximate cause of the death, the fact that the immediate cause of death was the medical or surgical treatment administered or that such treatment was a factor contributing to the cause of death will not relieve the person who inflicted the original injury from responsibility. Instruction No. 15 read: The fact, if it be a fact, that some other person was guilty of negligence which was a contributory cause of the death involved in the case, is no defense to a criminal charge. The trial court took these three other instructions directly from Rueckert. Instruction No. 16 was patterned after a similar instruction given in State v. Shaffer, 223 Kan. 244, 249-250, 574 P.2d 205 (1977). During the instruction conference, Mays objected to the giving of the proximate cause instructions because he contended they shifted the burden to him to prove that the physicians' negligence was the proximate cause of Morton's death. Mays believed Shaffer and Rueckert were distinguishable on their facts. In Shaffer, the victim was shot in the head and suffered irretrievable brain damage. His family allowed his kidneys to be transplanted, the respirator was then shut off, and the victim's bodily functions ceased. The defendant argued to the jury that the victim's death was caused by the transplant operation. The jury was instructed on the defense theory as follows: `With regard to Count I of the information, one of the theories of the defense herein is that the kidney transplant was the cause of the death of Donald W. Becker and not the gun shot [ sic ] wounds to the head. You are instructed in this regard that if you find defendant did cause the wounds to be inflicted on the person of Donald W. Becker then you must determine whether the act of defendant contributed to the death of Donald W. Becker. If you find defendant's acts contributed to the death of Donald W. Becker then responsibility cannot be avoided by the fact that independent causes such as the negligence of others also contributed to the death. However, if you find the cause of death resulted solely from erroneous treatment by the physicians you must acquit defendant of the offense charged in Count I.' 223 Kan. at 249-50. This court found the instruction was a proper statement of the applicable law. 223 Kan. at 250. In Rueckert, which is more fully discussed in reference to the previous issue regarding Dr. Logan's testimony, the defendant made similar arguments about the medical treatment received by the victim and the cause of death. This court found no error in instructions identical to Instructions No. 13, 14, and 15 given in this case, noting the instructions were a correct reflection of the law. 221 Kan. at 737. Instruction No. 16 and the instructions accompanying it accurately stated the law as reflected by Rueckert and Shaffer, which we find controlling. See also State v. Gholston, 272 Kan. 601, 605-09, 35 P.3d 868 (2001), cert. denied 536 U.S. 963 (2002) (no medical evidence required to establish cause of death where victim suffered gunshot wound to head and life support was withdrawn; defendant presented no evidence of superseding cause of death).