Court Opinion

ID: 9645639
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:30:57.229153+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:30.015346
License: Public Domain

*105VAN der VOORT, Judge:
I respectfully dissent from the decision of the majority.
This case involves a tortious injury to John A. Walsh sustained by him in an automobile collision on January 25, 1975 between appellant-plaintiff and appellee-defendant James Wesley Snyder. A jury awarded $35,000 to John Walsh and $5,000 to his wife Patricia in damages.
Appellant-plaintiff claims he should have been awarded damages for the aggravation of a pre-existing heart disease (blockage of a coronary artery) and mental stress. Two years and eight months after the accident, appellant was treated by Dr. Han who performed heart surgery on Mr. Walsh. Appellant offered to put in evidence Dr. Han’s testimony in an attempt to have the jury consider the aggravation of his pre-existing arterial blockage. The trial judge ruled that this testimony (which was by deposition) was too indefinite and uncertain to be allowed in evidence. While we must consider the doctor’s deposition as a whole (which I do), the doctor’s testimony relating to appellant’s heart condition is summed up in his answer to a question as follows:
“Q.....
Is there any way that you could estimate how much sooner he might have required coronary surgery as a result of the emotional stress?
A. There is no way I can determine how much the stress will aggravate the progress of coronary artery disease.”
Lest it appear that taking one answer out of context is unfair, an examination of the doctor’s testimony as a whole reveals a frank inability on his part to state with any degree of medical certainty or assurance that the accident caused or aggravated the pre-existing heart condition.
I find that the trial judge ruled correctly that Dr. Han’s testimony be excluded and I would affirm the action of the court below in ruling out Dr. Han’s deposition.