Opinion ID: 1104619
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Jury Charge Issue

Text: Appellants also claim as error the trial judge's charge to the jury as follows: If you are reasonably satisfied from the evidence that the Plaintiff Lavoid Johnson gave his consent to Thomas Griffith for the sponge removal operation and that Dr. Griffith pursuant to that consent, was authorized, under the evidence in this case, to choose the Defendant Dr. McMurray as his assistant, then you cannot find that the Defendant Dr. McMurray was guilty of an assault and battery.... At the time the above charge was initially given, Appellants made no objection. During deliberations, the jury asked the court for a recharge on the issue of assault and battery. The trial judge responded by giving the very same charge; thereupon, Appellants objected. Recently, in Reece v. Simpson, 437 So.2d 68 (Ala.1983), this Court held: First, we note that no objection was made to the court's oral charge and, therefore, we would be powerless to reverse even if the plaintiff's argument was meritorious. As we held in Record Data International, Inc. v. Nichols, 381 So.2d 1 (Ala.1979): `Rule 51, ARCP specifies that error may not be assigned for the giving of a defective charge unless the party seeking to assign error objects to that portion of the charge which is defective before the jury retires to consider its verdict, and specifically states the matter to which he objects and the grounds of his objection.... `Rule 51 affords the trial court an opportunity to correct any error in its charge before it becomes error with injury to reversal.' 381 So.2d at 7. In Reece, we determined that the charge given by the trial judge was correct, and that plaintiff's objection, even if timely, would not have been a meritorious one. Although the charge is hypothesized upon the jury's belief of the evidence favorable to the Defendants, we think the charge as given is confusing and misleading in light of the evidence that the Johnsons affirmatively demanded that Dr. McMurray not participate in any manner in the sponge removal surgery. (This point of confusion is demonstrated by the jury's inquiry during deliberations.) A jury question was presented with respect to the propriety of Dr. Griffith's choice of Dr. McMurray as his assistant for the sponge removal surgery in light of Mr. Johnson's insistence that he demanded of both doctors that Dr. McMurray take no part in the surgery. And we are confident that the trial court will encounter no difficulty in making this clear upon retrial. Ordinarily, a doctor is within his rights in choosing whomever he desires as his assistant, as long as the patient does not object. In this case, however, the jury was not bound, as a matter of law, to interpret Mr. Johnson's execution of Dr. Griffith's consent form as carrying with it the patient's consent for Dr. McMurray to act as Dr. Griffith's assistant, in view of the affirmative proof that Mr. Johnson did object. Therefore, because the charge is subject to being interpreted as transferred intent, as a matter of law, we hold that the trial judge erred in so instructing the jury. If this jury instruction had been properly objected to, and its misleading tendencies called to the trial court's attention, the Johnsons' claim of reversible error would have been meritorious.