LUCILLE WILSON, AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF SCOTT WILSON, DECEASED, APPELLANT,
v.
BOCA RATON COMMUNITY HOSPITAL, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, AND TERRY COHEN, M.D., APPELLEES
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This appeal addresses whether a trial court erred in refusing a jury instruction on concurring cause in a medical malpractice case where a patient died from paraquat poisoning. The court affirmed the jury's verdict absolving the treating physician of negligence, finding that even if the instruction should have been given, any error was not reversible because the verdict form focused solely on the physician's diagnosis and causation.
Although it would not have been error to give the concurring cause instruction, the failure to give it was not reversible error because the verdict form and the gravamen of the case focused solely on whether the physician's misdiagnosis was the legal cause of death, and there was no reasonable possibility the jury could have been misled by the omission.
[1] A trial court's failure to give a jury instruction on concurring cause is not reversible error if there is no reasonable possibility that the jury could have been misled…
[2] The presence of a preexisting condition, the possibility of suicide, or the failure of a product to contain an emetic are relevant factors in a medical negligence case in…
Previewing 2 of 3 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“In order to be regarded as a legal cause of [loss] [injury] [or] [damage], negligence need not be the only cause. Negligence may be a legal cause of [loss] [injury] [or] [damage] even though it operates in combination with [the act of another] [some natural cause] [or] some other cause if such other cause occurs at the same time as the negligence and if the negligence contributes substantially to producing such [loss] [injury] [or] [damage].”
Establishes the legal standard for concurring cause, which permits liability even when negligence combines with other causes
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceScott Wilson ingested paraquat and died from poisoning. The patient presented at the emergency room, and the treating physician, Dr. Terry Cohen, misd…
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LETTS, Judge.
This appeal stems from a final judgment based on a jury verdict absolving a treating physician from any negligence which was the legal cause of death of a patient who had somehow ingested paraquat. At the charge conference, the patient’s estate requested an instruction on concurring cause which the trial court denied. We affirm.
Without question, the patient died of paraquat poisoning. Thus, while there was some reference to a suicide attempt and to the lack of an emetic in the manufactured product, the thrust of the trial centered on whether or not the treating physician’s misdiagnosis was the cause of death. According to the defense, the ingestion of paraquat had set in motion an irreversible onset of death before the patient presented himself at the emergency room. The patient’s estate argues to the contrary and blames the treating physician’s misdiagnosis resulting in failure to administer a timely proper antidote and treatment. In response to that, the treating physician argues that the patient denied ingesting paraquat and reported it had only been sprayed externally upon him.
Florida Civil Jury Standard Instruction 5.1(b) on concurring cause reads as follows:
b. Concurring cause:
In order to be regarded as a legal cause of [loss] [injury] [or] [damage], negligence need not be the only cause. Negligence may be a legal cause of [loss] [injury] [or] [damage] even though it operates in combination with [the act of another] [some natural cause] [or] some other cause if such other cause occurs at the same time as the negligence and if the negligence contributes substantially to producing such [loss] [injury] [or] [damage].
We have read and re-read this instruction innumerable times and must sympathize with the trial judge below who remarked: “I never thought anyone understood this.” Addressing its applicability to the case at bar, we are of the belief that it would not have been error to give it. See Goodman v. Becker, 480 So. 2d 560 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983). The presence of a preexisting condition was relevant here (i.e., already irreversible onset of death) as was the possibility of suicide, see Borges v. Jacobs, 483 So. 2d 773 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986), and/or the failure of the product to contain an emetic. Nevertheless, the gravamen of this case, and the verdict form presented to the jury, went solely to the question of the treating physician’s errant diagnosis.1 Clearly, what was before the jury were the questions of whether the treating physician’s misdiagnosis was brought about because of the patient’s insistence he did not ingest paraquat and whether death was certain to occur in any event by the time the patient showed up in the emergency room. Thus, while the failure to give a concurring cause instruction may have been error, it was not reversible because we see no “reasonable possibility that the jury could have been misled by the failure to give the instruction.” Tilley v. Broward Hospital District, 458 So. 2d 817, 818 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984), quoting from Ruiz v. Cold Storage and Insulation Contractors, Inc., 306 So. 2d 153, 154 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975).
AFFIRMED.
HERSEY, C.J., and GUNTHER, J., concur. . We, the jury, return the following verdict:
1. Was there negligence on the part of TERRY COHEN, M.D., in his care and treatment of SCOTT WILSON, which was the legal cause of death of SCOTT WILSON? YES NO NO
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Mark N. Goldschmidt, M.D. v. Jerri Taletha Holman, 571 So. 2d 422 (Fla. 1990)…hat the jury could have been misled by the failure to give the instruction.” Ruiz v. Cold Storage & Insulation Contractors, Inc., 306 So. 2d 153, 155 (Fla. 2d DCA), cert. denied, 316 So. 2d 286 (1975); see Wilson v. Boca Raton Community Hosp., Inc., 511 So. 2d 313, 314 (Fla. 4th DCA), review denied, 519 So. 2d 988 (Fla.1987). The thrust of the entire trial centered solely upon whether Goldschmidt was negligent in misdiagnosing Taletha’s appendicitis. At all times Goldschmidt defended on the ground that he wa…
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Lewis v. State, 693 So. 2d 1055 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)…hat the jury could have been misled by the failure to give the instruction.’ Ruiz v. Cold Storage & Insulation Contractors, Inc., 306 So. 2d 153, 155 (Fla. 2d DCA), cert. denied, 316 So. 2d 286 (1975); see Wilson v. Boca Raton Community Hosp., Inc., 511 So. 2d 313, 314 (Fla. 4th DCA), review denied, 519 So. 2d 988 (Fla.1987). “The thrust of the entire trial centered solely upon whether Goldschmidt was negligent in misdiagnosing Taletha’s appendi [*1060] citis. At all times Goldschmidt defended on the ground…
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Jerri Taletha Holman v. Mark N. Goldschmidt, M.D., 550 So. 2d 499 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)…” reversed for a new trial because the “charges on concurrent and intervening cause are necessary in assessing the negligence of the parties, not simply in assessing the damages.” 434 So. 2d at 977. In Wilson v. Boca Raton Community Hospital, Inc., 511 So. 2d 313 (Fla. 4th DCA), rev. denied, 519 So. 2d 988 (Fla.1987), the court noted that even if it were error under the cases cited above not to give a concurring cause instruction where the plaintiff contended that the doctor had misdiagnosed his condition an…1 / 3
Authorities Cited
- Tilley v. Broward Hosp. Dist., 458 So. 2d 817 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984)
- Howard v. State, 306 So. 2d 153 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975)
- Ruiz v. Cold Storage & Insulation Contractors, Inc., 306 So. 2d 153 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975)
- Goodman v. Melvin Becker, D.D.S., 430 So. 2d 560 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983)
- Amparo Borges v. Jerome F. Jacobs, D.P.M. & Jerome F. Jacobs, D.P.M., P.A., 483 So. 2d 773 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)