Court Opinion

ID: 9586826
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:15:38.874718+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:53.426003
License: Public Domain

HUNTLEY, Justice,
dissenting.
A great deal of mischief and injustice is being perpetrated upon the people of Idaho by I.C. § 6-1012 and the overly restrictive construction this Court gives it. Perhaps the legislature will act to make the statute more clear and equitable.
*217Nowhere does that statute or I.C. § 6-1013 require that the expert witness procure his knowledge of the community standard by telephoning a local doctor or physically speaking with a local doctor.
That statute simply provides that the expert must familiarize himself with the standards and practices of an area and that he possess professional knowledge and expertise coupled with actual knowledge of the applicable community standard to which his or her expert opinion testimony is addressed.2
It is only this Court which has legislated this requirement of making a telephone call or a direct inquiry.
There are certain things in the practice of medicine which by definition are the standards for all doctors and there are certain things which are the standards for all board certified doctors regardless of where they practice. For example, it is the standard both for board certified doctors, general practitioners, nurses, and boy scouts, that if someone is bleeding profusely from an artery, that measures be taken to stem the flow of blood. No phone call is necessary to establish that standard whether we are dealing with a board certified neurosurgeon or a nurse practitioner.
I would rule that for purposes of summary judgment, when we are dealing with basic, widely acknowledged fundamentals of the practice of medicine, that a prima facie case is made out which will survive summary judgment if a doctor who is board certified testifies as to the minimum standard for all doctors of that certification everywhere.
It is simply a fundamental logic process that if: (1) All board certified orthopedic surgeons must at a minimum listen to the carotid artery; and (2) Doctor William Lenzi is a board certified orthopedic surgeon; therefore, (3) his standard is to place the stethoscope on the neck and listen to the artery.
Stated another way, if a witness testifies that no board certified doctor in the world should fail to listen to that artery, and Boise, Idaho is a part of the world, then the Boise standard has been met.
Such a prima facie case is particularly made out in the instant case where the testimony and affidavits of the defense witnesses do not state specifically that an orthopedic surgeon in Boise should not listen to the artery, but merely state a conclusion that Dr. Lenzi met the Boise standard of care.
The facts in this case are most compelling for the fact that a prima facie case has been made. The fact was that the medical records available to the defendant doctor demonstrated that this patient had high blood pressure and a history of smoking. All doctors know that such persons have a high incidence of occluded carotid arteries and that a patient undergoing surgery which lowers blood pressure stands to suffer a loss of blood flow to the brain. The physical examination to detect that condition, which would mean that surgery should not be performed without certain precautions, is simply to move the stethoscope from the situs of the chest examination three or four inches upward toward the neck, and listen to the artery. Dr. Hall’s affidavit stated:
VIII.
Dr. William Lenzi, as the orthopedic surgeon performing Mr. Strode's rotator *218cuff operation, was responsible for performing an adequate pre-operative physical examination of Donald Strode. An adequate pre-operative physical examination would have included listening to Mr. Strode’s carotid arteries, which would have detected bruits (sound of the blood movement in the occluded arteries) and thereby the fact that Mr. Strode had occluded carotid arteries.
X.
Dr. William Lenzi breached the standard of care applicable to an orthopedic surgeon in Boise, Idaho, in May 1984 by failing to perform an adequate pre-operative physical examination of Donald Strode prior to the rotator cuff operation, by failing to detect Mr. Strode’s carotid arteries were significantly occluded, and by failing to obtain a consultation with a qualified vascular surgeon or neurosurgeon concerning a carotid endarterectomy.
This testimony clearly raises an issue of fact which precludes an award of summary judgment.
Of considerable significance in this case is that no doctor has testified by way of deposition or affidavit or otherwise that the standard of care for Boise orthopedic surgeons is not to listen to the artery. We simply have a conclusion that the standard of care was met, but absolutely no testimony as to what the local deviation specifically is that is practiced in Boise. I suspect that no Boise doctor would take the stand and say that his standard was that he would not listen to that artery under these circumstances.
Accordingly, we do the people of Idaho a great disservice when we give so narrow and illogical a reading to this statute.
I would reverse and remand for trial.
BISTLINE, J., concurs.

. Idaho Code § 6-1013 reads in full:
6-1013. Testimony of expert witness on community standard. — The applicable standard of practice and such a defendant’s failure to meet said standard must be established in such cases by such a plaintiff by testimony of one (1) or more knowledgeable, competent expert witnesses, and such expert testimony may only be admitted in evidence if the foundation therefor is first laid, establishing (a) that such an opinion is actually held by the expert witness, (b) that the said opinion can be testified to with reasonable medical certainty, and (c) that such expert witness possesses professional knowledge and expertise coupled with actual knowledge of the applicable said community standard to which his or her expert opinion testimony is addressed; provided, this section shall not be construed to prohibit or otherwise preclude a competent expert witness who resides elsewhere from adequately familiarizing himself with the standards and practices of (a particular) such area and thereafter giving opinion testimony in such a trial.