Opinion ID: 1295414
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Duty to seek specialty care

Text: The two other duties identified in the Wick disclosure  to inspect the restraint as if it were a dressing and to seek immediate specialty care once Broehm's injury was discovered  are not susceptible to a categorical pronouncement that Wick does not qualify as an expert. A duty to immediately seek specialty care may depend on the specific facts of a case. The duty may involve a nursing duty to properly respond to an injury as distinct from a physician's treatment decision. A duty to seek specialty care is a matter possibly within a nurse's practical training and experience such that a nurse should not be presumptively disqualified from giving an expert opinion. See Cornfeldt, 262 N.W.2d at 697 (holding that it was erroneous to exclude the expert testimony of a nurse in a malpractice action against doctors solely because the nurse did not have the similar credentials and education as the doctors). Nevertheless, Broehm's abbreviated disclosure of Wick's nursing experience does not demonstrate that Wick has sufficient practical experience to make her competent to give an expert opinion on an asserted duty to immediately seek specialty care. Cf. id. at 693, 697. Therefore, I would also conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it found Wick not qualified to give an expert opinion to support a claim based on a duty to seek specialty care.