Opinion ID: 299188
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dr. M. J. Duplantis

Text: 3 This is a diversity case controlled by Louisiana law which follows the so-called locality rule in malpractice cases. This rule holds that physicians and surgeons are not negligent if they exercise that degree of skill and care which is usually possessed and exercised by practitioners of their profession in the same locality or community. 1 4 To recover in a malpractice case, plaintiff has the dual burden of proving first, the recognized standard of care generally practiced by other physicians in the community in similar situations, and second, that the defendant negligently failed to follow that standard. 2 5 Relying on this rule, the trial court directed a verdict for Dr. Duplantis on the ground that plaintiff's proof failed to provide the first ingredient of his case, i. e., the standard of care existing and to be followed by a general practitioner of medicine in the community of Covington, Louisiana. Contending that the case should have been sent to the jury, plaintiff says three things: first, the community standard was established through the testimony of Dr. Duplantis himself while under cross-examination; second, notwithstanding any community standard, the doctor failed to take known precautions for his patient's welfare; and third, Dr. Duplantis failed to inform his patient of certain x-ray results and, therefore, is liable for simple negligence. 1. 6 We can assume, without deciding, that plaintiff could carry his burden of establishing the standard of professional practice against which a defendant doctor's acts must be tested through the testimony on cross-examination of the defendant doctor himself. 3 This avails plaintiff nothing however because a complete reading of Dr. Duplantis' testimony reveals that he did not testify to any community standards at all; that is, he did not testify as to what other practitioners did in situations similar to this one. He did testify to certain procedures and practices which he customarily followed in various circumstances, but even if it could be presumed that his customary practices would establish the standard for the community, he at no time indicated that he varied from his own standard practices in this particular situation, much less that any supposed variance amounted to negligence. Before any jury should be left to speculate as to whether certain diagnostic procedures should have been executed by a physician, there must be some proof that other doctors in similar circumstances would have carried out such procedures as a minimum standard of practice, and the jury must be given some evidence other than counsel's argument that the omissions were negligent in character. A mere listing of those tests which could have been made, but were not, does not present an issue for the jury. 2. 7 In arguing that irrespective of any community standard the jury should have been left to determine whether the doctor failed to take necessary precautions for his patient's welfare, the plaintiff relies on Favalora v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 144 So.2d 544 (La.App. 1962), as an exception to the locality rule. This argument misconstrues Favalora, which merely holds that a doctor's compliance with a community standard does not relieve him of liability in a malpractice case if it is shown by a member of the profession from defendant's locality that the procedure followed is recognized by members of the same profession as being faulty and contrary to the teaching in medical colleges. 8 There was simply no testimony in plaintiff's case upon which the jury could conclude that the procedures followed by Dr. Duplantis as a general practitioner were, in the eyes of the profession, faulty. 3. 9 Plaintiff cites Dowling v. Mutual Life Ins. Co. of New York, 168 So. 2d 107 (La.App.1964), for his argument that Dr. Duplantis was guilty of actionable negligence because he failed to inform his patient of the results of certain x-rays. In Dowling there were two factors which keyed the court's holding that the doctor there owed a duty to inform his patient of the substance of the radiologist's report. First, and most important, five doctors testified that in like circumstances they would have informed the patient of the report. Thus there was a proven standard of practice in the community to which Dowling's doctor did not conform, proof of which is absent in this case. Second, the radiologist's report there indicated a danger of tuberculosis and the need for further x-ray examination. The radiologist's report to Dr. Duplantis did not indicate serious implications and, in fact, did not indicate that the x-ray showed the difficulty which was eventually diagnosed. 10 Carefully reviewing all of plaintiff's arguments, it is apparent that the trial judge committed no reversible error in directing a verdict on the ground that there was no evidence that defendant's acts amounted to negligence by proven professional standards, his own or the community's.