Opinion ID: 1900990
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Part II: Admissibility of Nurse Training Materials

Text: The Fund and the hospital contend that the nurses' journal article was erroneously admitted by the trial judge because it was fictional, it was not presented by the author, and it was not shown that the thoughts occurred in the mind of Von Stetina or any other patient. They assert that the district court of appeal correctly found that the admission of the article was error but incorrectly concluded that the error was harmless because it was cumulative in that [t]here was so much other deeply moving evidence. 436 So.2d at 1033. Appellants argue that it resulted in a prejudicial impact on the damages awarded in this case. The short story read into the record and submitted in evidence to the jury was inadmissible because it was not relevant to a material issue in the litigation. Nothing in the story focuses on the actions of the attendant nurse in terms of the nurse's function. Nothing in the story establishes a standard of care or dictates a procedure for attending ventilated patients. Rather, it speaks of a conscious, ventilated patient's perception of the experience and the helplessness involved. The only training this short story would efficate is affective training  development of empathy. Plaintiff's counsel himself so characterized it. A cause of action does not exist for lack of empathy except, perhaps, for negligent or intentional infliction of emotional distress. But even assuming a cause of action in medical malpractice could be brought for lack of empathy in violation of the standard of care required, this case was not predicated on that theory. In very carefully documented evidence elicited from a series of witnesses, plaintiff's counsel proved that every staff member available at the time of Von Stetina's mishap was actively involved in the delivery of necessary care to patients who were more acutely in need than Von Stetina appeared to be at the last recorded vital-sign monitoring before the event. There was simply no attempt to prove that the nurses callously or even negligently ignored the victim. Plaintiff proved that the nurses could not be two places at once, regardless of the degree of care and concern they felt. Finally, plaintiff's attorney elicited from every nurse on duty that night her background and training. Not one had received training at Florida Medical Center. There is no evidence in the record that any of the nurses staffing the ICU that night were ever exposed to the document. The story did not establish a technical standard of care by which the nurses' actions could be measured. The evidence presented showed that the nurses did not neglect Von Stetina out of lack of empathy, but, if at all, from understaffing which created a demand for their immediate services elsewhere. The relevance of the story as a training tool is not established. Because it was irrelevant, it was inadmissible. Further, we cannot find this to be harmless error. As plaintiff's counsel brought out, the intended effect of the story was to touch the emotions of the nurses so as to create empathy. This is unarguably the effect its admission into evidence was intended to create in the jurors. The story essentially puts the reader in the patient's situation and evokes from the reader or listener the terror, pain and helplessness felt by a patient. However, this is the trauma caused by adequate and entirely proper treatment. It is not pain and suffering for which a patient may recover money damages. Neither does the emotional response to perceived pain and terror add to the jury's ability to weigh the disputed facts in determining liability. The jurors were presented with evidence designed to arouse emotions and they were assured that this evidence was relevant and material to their determination of the issues before them. The jurors had no reason to disregard their empathetic response and we must assume that that response was reflected to some extent in the verdict rendered. Mere sympathy cannot sustain a judgment. A juror is charged with the duty to weigh evidence and to find fact. The jury system should not function on emotion, but on logic. The introduction of this highly emotional, irrelevant document must have colored the jury's approach to the evidence. As such the admission of the document cannot have been harmless error. The judgment must be vacated and petitioners granted a new trial.