Court Opinion

ID: 3029567
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2015-10-13 22:43:03.090551+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:44:09.127517
License: Public Domain

*393
   
  [UNPUBLISHED]
 

  PER CURIAM.
 

  Charles Scharf appeals from a grant of summary judgment in favor of Paul Zanaboni, M.D. in this medical malpractice action. Mr. Scharf underwent coronary artery bypass surgery on July 3, 1997, at St. Louis University Medical Center. He was given general anesthesia during the surgery, which required that Mr. Scharf have an endotracheal tube and nasogastric tube placed during the course of the procedure. Dr. Paul Zanaboni was the attending anesthesiologist on duty that day. However, Mr. Scharfs anesthesia was initiated and administered by Dr. Samuel Singer, a resident physician in anesthesiology. During the surgical procedure, Mr. Scharf suffered a Mallory-Weiss tear of his esophagus. Mr. Scharf claims that his esophageal injury occurred during negligent insertion of either an endotracheal tube or probe, or a nasogastric tube, all of which were performed during his surgical procedure. The plaintiffs expert medical witness testified that the injury occurred near the end of the surgery and it was at that time that the nasogastric tube had been inserted. It is significant that Dr. Zanaboni was not in the operative suite at the time Dr. Singer inserted the nasogastric tube. Mr. Scharf does not assert a vicarious liability claim, nor does he claim that Dr. Singer was an employee of Dr. Zanaboni.
 

  On appeal Mr. Scharf asserts that the district court
  
   1
  
  erred in granting summary judgment on the issues of
  
   res ipsa loquitur
  
  and negligent supervision.
 

  The district court held that Mr. Scharf failed to prove that Dr. Zanaboni had exclusive control of the instrumentality that caused the injury. To the contrary, the evidence revealed that Dr. Singer had control over the instrumentality which was alleged to have injured Mr. Scharf, because he inserted the nasogastric tube, and was involved in initiating and administering Mr. Scharfs anesthesia. The district court correctly held that Mr. Scharf failed to meet his burden of establishing that Dr. Zanaboni had exclusive control over the instrumentality, consequently the
  
   res ipsa loquitur
  
  claim could not survive summary judgment. As to Mr. Scharfs claim of negligent supervision on the part of Dr. Zanaboni, the district court held that Mr. Scharf presented no evidence to demonstrate that a genuine issue of material fact exists that Dr. Zanaboni was negligent in his supervisory capacity. Therefore, Mr. Scharfs claim for negligent supervision could not survive summary judgment.
 

  We have reviewed the record and find the district court committed no error of law.
 

  The district court is AFFIRMED.
  
   See,
  
  8th Cir. R. 47B.
 

   1
  

   . The Honorable Rodney W. Sippel, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri.