Opinion ID: 164099
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Impeachment Exception

Text: Ms. Gray next argues the trial court should have allowed her to introduce the form to impeach Dr. McCauley’s testimony. As discussed above, Dr. McCauley testified he “may or may not have” followed instructions had Roche issued them during Ms. Gray’s treatment. Ms. Gray contends she could have impeached this testimony with the form because she claims Dr. McCauley’s deposition testimony indicates, “as soon as he received the revised informed patient consent form from [Roche], he immediately began using it.” (Emphasis 4 Ms. Gray also believes the court should have allowed her to introduce Roche’s revised consent form because Roche failed to cite Oklahoma law mandating its exclusion. She claims Meller v. Heil Co., 745 F.2d 1297 (10th Cir. 1984) places the burden of demonstrating the evidence’s inadmissibility under state law upon the party seeking its exclusion. However, the principle in Meller Ms. Gray refers to is our interpretation of a Colorado statute excluding post-injury scientific advancements. Id. at 1302. The statute in Meller does not apply to this case. -12- added.) According to Ms. Gray, the deposition testimony shows Dr. McCauley “responds directly and immediately to such warnings and instructions from the drug manufacturer.” She believes she could have proved Dr. McCauley would have altered her treatment had the trial court permitted her to introduce the form. Both Oklahoma law and Rule 407 permit litigants to introduce subsequent remedial measures evidence for impeachment purposes. Fed. R. Evid. 407; Okla. Stat. Ann. tit 12, § 2407 (1993). Here, the informed consent form itself did not contradict Dr. McCauley’s testimony that he does not “rotely” follow instructions from drug companies, or that he would have altered Ms. Gray’s treatment had Roche issued warnings while she was taking Accutane. Furthermore, we are unconvinced the form would have allowed Ms. Gray to elicit further testimony to impeach Dr. McCauley. First, and contrary to Ms. Gray’s assertions, we found no indication in Dr. McCauley’s deposition testimony that he began using the consent form immediately after receiving it. On the contrary, Dr. McCauley testified he could not remember when he received the informed consent form or when he began using it. Second, the informed consent form differs in both form and content from the warning Ms. Gray claims Roche should have issued years earlier. The -13- fact he currently uses the form does not prove he would have followed a different warning several years earlier. Indeed, Dr. McCauley’s deposition testimony indicates he attained new information about Accutane’s possible side effect around the time Ms. Gray stopped taking Accutane and before he adopted the form. In light of these facts, we doubt Ms. Gray could have used the form to demonstrate that, contrary to his testimony, Dr. McCauley would have proceeded differently had Roche issued the two warning sentences. The trial court properly excluded the form for impeachment purposes.