Opinion ID: 2084684
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Evidence of Atwood's Deviation from the Standard of Care

Text: In our opinion, plaintiffs met their burden of presenting sufficient evidence upon which a reasonable jury could conclude that Atwood deviated from the standard of care by failing to have a formal backup system in place. Both Dr. Gordon and Dr. Warshaw said that there was no backup system in place that would have allowed an attending physician to call on another internist for assistance during the Christmas weekend of December 2000. Doctor Schneider testified that assuming Atwood did not have a backup system in place in which Dr. Warshaw could look to other internists within the group to assist him while he was on call on December 22 and 23, 2000, then Atwood deviated from the standard of care. Pointing to Dr. Warshaw's testimony, Atwood asserts that there was no breach of any duty because Dr. Schneider's opinion was fallacious and based on the inaccurate assumption that Atwood lacked a backup system. However, in our opinion, there was sufficient evidence in the record to support the assertion that Atwood lacked a backup system. Although it is true that Dr. Warshaw testified that Atwood had a backup system in place, that arrangement covered only patients experiencing a heart attack or who were in critical care; it did not address situations requiring the attention of an internist, the exact standard of care to which Dr. Schneider testified.