Court Opinion

ID: 9850308
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:55:03.767465+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:34.930866
License: Public Domain

TYSON, Judge
concurring.
I concur in the decision to affirm the trial court’s judgment. I write separately to further address the issues presented.
I. Background
In addition to those facts set out in majority’s opinion, it is important to note: (1) Daniels accompanied his wife to the Hospital and remained present with her at all times; (2) at the time of delivery in September 1995, Nurse Sharpe, was licensed as a registered nurse for more than twenty years and had worked with Dr. Dingfelder for eighteen to nineteen years; (3) around 7:30 a.m. on 2 September 1995, Nurse Sharpe was also assigned as nurse to Mrs. Daniels; and (4) Nurse Parker had been a practicing nurse for nineteen years.
*544II. Issue
Plaintiffs assert the trial court erred by awarding summary judgment to the Hospital based on finding and concluding as a matter of law that no act or failure to act by the Hospital or its agents proximately caused or contributed to the injury and death of Lorren.
III. Summary Judgment
A. Standard of Review
A portion of our standard of review is set out in the majority’s opinion: summary judgment is proper “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that any party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 56(c) (2003).
In addition to that portion of our standard of review previously stated, we have also held:
The moving party has the burden of establishing the lack of any triable issue of fact. A defendant may show entitlement to summary judgment by[:] (1) proving that an essential element of the plaintiffs case is non-existent[;] or (2) showing through discovery that the plaintiff cannot produce evidence to support an essential element of his or her claimf;] or (3) showing that the plaintiff cannot surmount an affirmative defense .... Once the party seeking summary judgment makes the required showing, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to produce a forecast of evidence demonstrating specific facts, as opposed to allegations, showing that he can at least establish a prima facie case at trial.
Draughon v. Harnett Cty. Bd. of Educ., 158 N.C. App. 705, 708, 582 S.E.2d 343, 345 (2003), aff’d per curiam, 358 N.C. 137, 591 S.E.2d 520 (2004) (internal quotations and citations omitted) (emphasis supplied).
In order to survive a motion for summary judgment in a negligence action, the plaintiff must show: “(1) that defendant failed to exercise proper care in the performance of a duty owed plaintiff; (2) the negligent breach of that duty was a proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury; and (3) a person of ordinary prudence should have foreseen that plaintiff’s injury was probable under the circumstances.” Strickland v. Doe, 156 N.C. App. 292, 294, 577 S.E.2d 124, 128 (2003), disc. rev. denied, 357 N.C. 169, 581 S.E.2d 447 (quoting Lavelle v. *545Schultz, 120 N.C. App. 857, 859-60, 463 S.E.2d 567, 569 (1995), disc. rev. denied, 342 N.C. 656, 467 S.E.2d 715 (1996)).
IV. Nurses’ Duties to a Patient
Plaintiffs argue that Nurse Sharpe and Nurse Parker were negligent by following Dr. Dingfelder’s instructions. In Byrd v. Hospital, and as more recently followed in Blanton v. Moses H. Cone Hosp., our Supreme Court stated:
nurses, in the discharge of their duties, must obey and diligently execute the orders of the physician or surgeon in charge of the patient, unless, of course, such order was so obviously negligent as to lead any reasonable person to anticipate that substantial injury would result to the patient from the execution of such order or performance of such direction. Certainly, if a physician or surgeon should order a nurse to stick fire to a patient, no nurse would be protected from liability for damages for undertaking to carry out the orders of the physician. The law contemplates that the physician is solely responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of his patient. Nurses are not supposed to be experts in the technique of diagnosis or the mechanics of treatment.
Byrd v. Hospital, 202 N.C. 337, 341-42, 162 S.E. 738, 740 (1932) (emphasis supplied), followed by Blanton v. Moses H. Cone Hosp., 319 N.C. 372, 354 S.E.2d 455 (1987); see also Paris v. Kreitz, 75 N.C. App. 365, 381, 331 S.E.2d 234, 245 (1985) (“it is clear that the negligence was not so obvious as to require [the nurse] to disobey an instruction or refuse to administer a treatment [because] . . . [a]ny disagreement or contrary recommendation she may have had as to the treatment prescribed would have necessarily been premised on a separate diagnosis, which she was not qualified to render.” (citing Byrd, 202 N.C. at 337, 162 S.E. at 738).
In Byrd, our Supreme Court also recognized:
If the injury resulted from a peculiar condition of plaintiffs body, producing unusual or abnormal susceptibility to [the treatment], then this was a matter of diagnosis and lay exclusively within the duty of the physician, unless, of course, as hereinbe-fore indicated, the type of disease was so pronounced and so well known as to lead the nurse in the exercise of ordinary care to anticipate injury.
202 N.C. at 342-43, 162 S.E. at 741.
*546In Byrd, as here, “there was nothing to indicate to the nurse[s] that the [procedure to] plaintiff with the acquiescence and implied approval of the physician was obviously dangerous or likely to produce harm.” 202 N.C. at 343, 162 S.E. at 741. Testimony in the depositions before the trial court on summary judgment show forceps deliveries are “common.” Nurse Parker testified that she expected the procedure to be a “regular routine forcepfs] delivery for a first-time mom.” Plaintiffs present no forecast of evidence to show the forceps procedure chosen by Dr. Dingfelder was “obviously dangerous” or “likely to produce harm.” Id. at 342-43, 162 S.E. at 741.
The trial court did not err by concluding that plaintiffs failed to show as a matter of law the nurses or the Hospital could have reasonably “anticipate [d] injury” or death to Lorren. Id.
V. Act or Failure to Act
Plaintiffs contend the trial court erred by concluding they failed to show the actions or inactions of the Hospital or its agents contributed to or proximately caused Lorren’s injuries based on the affidavits of Drs. Dingfelder and Fried.
A. Resvondeat Superior
Plaintiffs argue “[t]he affidavits of Dr. Dingfelder and of Dr. Fried do not address all of the negligent acts of the hospital and its agents.” In support of this argument, plaintiffs assert the Hospital is jointly liable for the negligence of the labor and delivery team under the theory of respondeat superior.
“If an employee is negligent while acting in the course of employment and such negligence is the proximate cause of injury to another, the employer is liable in damages under the doctrine of respondeat superior . . . .” Johnson v. Lamb, 273 N.C. 701, 707, 161 S.E.2d 131, 137 (1968) (citing Gillis v. Tea Co., 223 N.C. 470, 27 S.E.2d 283 (1943); West v. Woolworth Co., 215 N.C. 211, 15 S.E.2d 546 (1939)). Beyond their broad assertion, plaintiffs neither presented nor forecasted any evidence to show: (1) that any of the Hospital’s employees were negligent; or (2) that even if one of the Hospital’s employees was negligent, that such negligence contributed to or was the proximate cause of Lorren’s death. Johnson, 273 N.C. at 707, 161 S.E.2d at 137.
“Plaintiff [as the nonmoving party] is required to offer legal evidence tending to establish beyond mere speculation or conjecture every essential element of negligence, and upon failure to do so, *547[summary judgment] is proper.” Young v. Fun Services-Carolina, Inc., 122 N.C. App. 157, 162, 468 S.E.2d 260, 263, disc. rev. denied, 344 N.C. 444, 476 S.E.2d 134 (1996) (alterations in original) (quoting Roumillat v. Simplistic Enterprises, Inc., 331 N.C. 57, 68, 414 S.E.2d 339, 345 (1992)). Without evidence to show the Hospital’s employees were negligent or that such negligence was the proximate cause of Lorren’s death, the trial court did not err in awarding summary judgment to the Hospital on plaintiffs’ claims for negligence or liability under the theory of respondeat superior.
B. Informed Consent
Next, plaintiffs contend the Hospital negligently failed to ensure that Mrs. Daniels gave informed consent to the forceps procedure. Plaintiffs argue the lack of testimony in Drs. Dingfelder’s and Fried’s depositions raise genuine issues of material fact regarding Mrs. Daniels’ informed consent.
Our Supreme Court “has long recognized that hospitals owe a duty of care to their patients. They must exercise ordinary care in the selection of their agents. They must make a reasonable effort to monitor and oversee the treatment their staffs provide to patients.” Horton v. Carolina Medicorp, Inc., 344 N.C. 133, 138, 472 S.E.2d 778, 781 (1996) (citations omitted). Horton, which extended the continuing course of treatment doctrine to hospitals, is instructive, but not controlling to the case at bar. 344 N.C. at 139, 472 S.E.2d at 782.
Here, plaintiffs do not contend the Hospital’s actions were unreasonable but argue the Hospital and its employees were negligent in failing to obtain Mrs. Daniels’ informed consent to the forceps procedure. Addressing an issue similar to that at bar, this Court stated:
We are urged to . . . impose a duty upon a hospital to properly inform and advise a patient of the nature of a medical procedure to be performed on him when the patient is admitted to the hospital for an operation under the care of his privately retained physician. We decline to do so.
Cox v. Haworth, 54 N.C. App. 328, 331, 283 S.E.2d 392, 394-95 (1981).
Plaintiffs contend Sharpe v. Pugh, 270 N.C. 598, 155 S.E.2d 108 (1967), establishes a duty on the Hospital to obtain informed consent. Sharpe involved an action only against the treating physician and did not identify or join a hospital as party to that action nor did the Supreme Court set forth any discussion regarding a hospital’s liabil*548ity. The reasoning in Sharpe is distinguishable and not controlling to the facts here.
In Campbell v. Pitt County Memorial Hosp., this Court stated in a split decision:
defendant, under the doctrine of corporate negligence set forth in Bost v. Riley, 44 N.C. App. 638, 262 S.E.2d 391, disc. rev. denied, 300 N.C. 194, 269 S.E.2d 621 (1980) as applied to the specific facts and circumstances of this case, did have a legal duty to insure that plaintiffs’ informed consent to a vaginal delivery of a footling breech baby had been obtained prior to delivery.
84 N.C. App. 314, 322, 352 S.E.2d 902, 907 (1987), aff’d, 321 N.C. 260, 362 S.E.2d 273, overruled on other grounds, Johnson v. Ruark Obstetrics, 327 N.C. 283, 395 S.E.2d 85 (1990). Judge Becton, the authoring judge in Cox, distinguished the facts in Campbell from those in Cox in his concurring in part, dissenting in part opinion and explained, “In Cox we were asked to determine if a court could impose such a duty on a hospital. In the case sub judice, we are asked to determine whether a court should instruct a jury regarding a duty which, the evidence shows, the hospital had imposed on itself.” Campbell, 84 N.C. App. at 330, 352 S.E.2d at 911 (J. Becton concurring in part, dissenting in part) (emphasis supplied).
Upon appeal of right based on the dissenting opinion, the Supreme Court was equally divided in Campbell and ruled, “[t]he decision of the Court of Appeals on this issue is thus left undisturbed and stands without precedential value.” 321 N.C. 260, 266, 362 S.E.2d 273, 276 (1987) (citing Forbes Homes, Inc. v. Trimpi, 313 N.C. 168, 326 S.E.2d 30 (1985)). This Court in Clark v. Perry followed Cox and later held, “we have expressly declined to . .. impose upon a hospital the duty to obtain a patient’s informed consent before treatment when, as here, the patient is admitted by a private physician for surgery.” 114 N.C. App. 297, 315, 442 S.E.2d 57, 67 (1994) (citing Cox, 54 N.C. App. at 332-33, 283 S.E.2d at 395-96).
This appeal concerns a motion for summary judgment similar to Cox and not an appeal addressing jury instructions based on presentation of the evidence as the issues in Campbell. The dicta in Campbell is “without precedential value” and does not address the issue presented here. 84 N.C. App. at 330, 352 S.E.2d at 911. '
Following this Court’s holdings in Cox and Clark, plaintiffs forecast no basis to impose a separate duty on the Hospital to obtain *549informed consent without any evidence to support or a finding to show the treating physician failed to do so. Cox, 54 N.C. App. at 331, 283 S.E.2d at 394-95; Clark, 114 N.C. App. at 315, 442 S.E.2d at 67.
C. Chain of Command
Plaintiffs also argue the Hospital should be held liable because it failed to have “an effective chain of command procedure” in place at the time of Lorren’s delivery. Plaintiffs neither present nor cite to any authority to support this argument. N.C.R. App. P. 28(b)(6) (2004) (“Assignments of error ... in support of which no . . . authority [is] cited, will be taken as abandoned.):
Additionally, plaintiffs argue the Hospital “made no showing before the trial court as to why these negligent failures on its part were not proximate causes of’ Lorren’s death. This argument is misplaced. Plaintiffs, not the Hospital, carry the burden of “establish[ing] beyond mere speculation or conjecture every essential element of negligence,” including the element of proximate cause. Young, 122 N.C. App. at 162, 468 S.E.2d at 263 (quoting Roumillat, 331 N.C. at 68, 414 S.E.2d at 345). Without a forecast of evidence to support this element, plaintiffs cannot shift their burden to. defendants. Summary judgment for the Hospital on this issue is proper. Id.
D. Interested Parties
Finally, plaintiffs contend the trial court erred in considering the affidavits and depositions of Drs. Dingfelder and Fried presented by the Hospital in support of its motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs argue that Drs. Dingfelder’s and Fried’s testimony were biased because they both were “employed” by the Hospital at the time of the alleged negligent acts and have a personal stake in the outcome. Their argument asserts both doctors were “interested in the outcome of the case” which requires a jury, not the trial court, to act as the fact finder to resolve questions regarding credibility. State Farm Life Ins. Co. v. Allison, 128 N.C. App. 74, 77, 493 S.E.2d 329, 330 (1997), disc. rev. denied, 347 N.C. 584, 502 S.E.2d 616 (1998).
Plaintiffs fail to identify any specific testimony by the doctors or any other evidence considered by the trial court to support their argument. Plaintiffs also fail to forecast any evidence to contradict the doctors’ testimony. Without a forecast of disputed testimony or evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact, consideration and resolution of any credibility issues of an alleged interested witness *550does not deprive the trial court of its ability to rule on a motion for summary judgment. Id.
VI. Conclusion
Although the facts at bar are tragic, plaintiffs settled and dismissed their claims with prejudice against the treating physician, Dr. Dingfelder, without any admission or finding of liability by him. In asserting claims against the Hospital and its nurses, plaintiffs have failed to forecast evidence to show a separate duty imposed on the nurses’ or the Hospital’s alleged negligence proximately caused Lorren’s injuries.
Plaintiffs also failed to show the trial court erred by considering the affidavits of Drs. Dingfelder and Fried. Although the majority’s opinion rests on plaintiffs’ failure to establish any genuine issue of material fact of defendants owing a duty or breach of that duty, the trial court alternatively did not err by concluding that plaintiffs failed as a matter of law to “produce a forecast” to show that the Hospital’s or its agents’ acts, or failure to act, contributed to and proximately caused Lorren’s injury or death. Draughon, 158 N.C. App. at 708, 582 S.E.2d at 345 (quoting Gaunt v. Pittaway, 13 N.C. App. 778, 784-85, 534 S.E.2d 660, 664 (2000)).
Having carefully reviewed the record and evidence before the trial court on the Hospital’s motion for summary judgment, as well as plaintiffs’ briefs and oral arguments on appeal, I concur to affirm the trial court’s judgment.