Opinion ID: 1359764
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: evidence as it relates to dr. haas

Text: [16] Plaintiffs contend that Dr. Haas is also liable for Mrs. Seneris' injuries in that he knowingly permitted Dr. West to administer the anesthetic negligently; in that he failed to call in a neurosurgeon or other consultant; in that he failed to arrange for a laminectomy to be performed on Mrs. Seneris; and under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. The record shows that Dr. Haas had made arrangements for Mrs. Seneris to have a spinal anesthetic at the time of her delivery; that he had not arranged for Dr. West to give it. The record further shows that Dr. Haas testified that when he arrived in the delivery room he did not know whether Mrs. Seneris was conscious or not; that Dr. West was standing by the patient's side removing the rubber gloves that he uses when he gives his spinal; that at the time of his entry into the delivery room Mrs. Seneris was lying on her back and a nurse was putting her legs into the stirrups preparatory to the spontaneous delivery of the child. It is obvious from this evidence that the spinal anesthetic had been completed by Dr. West prior to Dr. Haas' arrival in the delivery room. Defendant Haas contends that whether or not he was negligent in failing to call in a neurosurgeon after discovering Mrs. Seneris' condition the following morning was a matter requiring expert opinion as to the standard practice in the community and that plaintiffs produced no such expert opinion. It is also argued that plaintiffs produced no evidence to show that such a failure was in any way the proximate cause of plaintiff Seneris' injuries or the cause of any aggravation thereof. These contentions appear to be meritorious. Whether Dr. Haas' failure to call in a neurosurgeon to examine Mrs. Seneris the following day constituted negligence depended upon expert testimony as to what an ordinarily skilled physician practicing in that vicinity, in the exercise of due care and professional judgment, would have done under the circumstances. ( Bickford v. Lawson, 27 Cal. App.2d 416, 421-422 [81 P.2d 216].) Plaintiffs' further contentions with respect to Dr. Haas fail for the same reason: that no expert evidence was produced to show that Dr. Haas' failure to call in a neurologist in any way contributed to Mrs. Seneris' condition.