JOSEPH HUNT, SR., INDIVIDUALLY AND AS ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF JESSIE BELL HUNT, DECEASED, APPELLANT,
v.
PAUL U. GERBER, JR., AND METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY, A POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, D/B/A KENDALL HOSPITAL, APPELLEES
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In this medical malpractice appeal, the court affirmed summary judgment against the estate of a patient who died following surgery, holding that the plaintiff failed to establish either a breach of the standard of care or causation between any alleged negligence and the patient's death.
No. The court held that the plaintiff failed to meet the burden of establishing either the standard of care applicable to the circumstances, a breach of that standard, or any causal relationship between the defendants' treatment and the patient's death. Summary judgment was properly entered because the record contained no evidence of what the physician did that he should not have done or failed to do that he should have done.
“The record is barren as to what the doctor did that he should not have done or what he failed to do that he should have done.”
Establishes the court's finding that plaintiff presented no evidence of breach of the standard of care.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe decedent underwent surgery and was transferred to the hospital recovery room at approximately 2:40 PM on July 25, 1962, still under anesthesia. Th…
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This appeal is from an adverse summary judgment in a malpractice suit. The summary judgment was entered before answer by the appellees and mainly upon the deposition of the attending physician, the appel-lee Gerber, and certain hospital records.
The appellant contends in the main that the appellees failed to accord to appellant’s decedent the attention and care required for a person recovering from an operation.
The appellant’s decedent, after an operation and while still under the effects of anesthesia, was removed to the recovery room of the hospital at approximately 2:40 in the afternoon of July 25, 1962. The ap-pellee Gerber, attending physician, testified that when the decedent was removed from the operating room, she was breathing sufficiently well to permit the removal of the endotracheal tube and she was thereafter placed in the care of the recovery room nurse. The deceased was next seen by ap-pellee Gerber in the recovery room. She was found to be breathing properly and her blood pressure and pulse were relatively normal for a patient who had undergone an operation. The appellee Gerber then left the decedent and was allegedly recalled to the recovery room at approximately 5 :00 P. M., when the decedent’s breathing rate had dropped to less than ten breaths per minute. The appellee Gerber never left the hospital but instead was within approximately thirty feet of the recovery room at all times conducting examinations of other patients. The breath rate of the decedent, according to the hospital chart, apparently began to drop at around 3:15 on the afternoon of the operation. The decedent expired at 9:20 P.M., on July 27th, apparently without having regained consciousness.
The appellant strenuously contends that the hospital records as well as the testimony in the deposition of appellee Gerber are sufficient to demonstrate the lack of attention and care on the part of the appellees.
We are unable from an inspection of the record to find any evidence showing a violation of the standard of care imposed upon the hospital. As a matter of fact, *722there has been a total failure to show what ■standard of care was required under the circumstances of this case or that the hospital failed to meet the standard. Likewise the same would apply to the appellee Gerber. The record is barren as to what the doctor ■did that he should not have done or what he failed to do that he should have done. See Foster v. Thornton, 113 Fla. 600, 152, So. 667; Memorial Hospital v. Doring, Fla.App.1958, 106 So.2d 565.
The appellant was charged with the duty of coming forward with proof of the standard of care as well as the breach of that standard and demonstrating that such breach was the proximate cause, or facts from which it could be reasonably inferred that such breach was the proximate cause of the decedent’s death. In the face of these deficiencies, we think the trial judge was correct in rendering the summary judgment. The fact that the decedent died, regrettable as it is, does not necessarily establish negligence on the part of the hospital or the doctor.
We think this case comes squarely within the principles announced by the Supreme Court of Florida in Food Fair Stores of Florida, Inc. v. Patty, Fla.1959, 109 So.2d 5. To permit this case to go to the jury would be in effect granting the jury a license to speculate as to what caused the death of the decedent, for the record in this case is barren of any causal relationship between the treatment accorded to the decedent and the fact of her death. The burden of establishing not only the negligent act but its causal relationship to the death of the decedent is upon the appellant. The appellant has failed to discharge that burden. Accordingly, the judgment appealed should be and is hereby affirmed.
Affirmed.
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Wale v. Barnes, 278 So. 2d 601 (Fla. 1973)…ice. In other words, plaintiffs did not satisfy their burden of establishing (1) a standard of care owed by defendants to plaintiffs, (2) a breach of that standard, and (3) that said breach proximately caused the damages claimed. See Hunt v. Gerber, 166 So. 2d 720 (Fla.App.3d 1964). Our careful review, however, leads us to the opposite conclusion. The record in this cause contains sufficient evidence on these three prerequisites outlined above to make a prima facie case of medical malpractice which necessari…
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Wale v. Barnes, 261 So. 2d 201 (Fla. 3d DCA 1972)…by direct evidence or inferences reasonably drawn therefrom, the standard of care, the failure to meet that standard, and that the failure to conform to the standard of care proximately caused the damages claimed. See: Hunt v. Gerber, Fla.App.1964, 166 So. 2d 720, 721-722. We have examined the record, which includes the two types of forceps, [*204] and have carefully considered the arguments advanced in the briefs and in oral argument in light of the authorities there cited. In large part the appellants’ ca…
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del Canal v. Gerardo Santos, M.D., 495 So. 2d 1218 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)…he defendant Dr. Santos committed any act of medical malpractice in this case which proximately caused the plaintiff’s damages, and, accordingly, the trial court properly entered a directed verdict in favor of the said defendant. See Hunt v. Gerber, 166 So. 2d 720 (Fla. 3d DCA 1964); Memorial Hospital, South Broward Hospital District v. Doring, 106 So. 2d 565 (Fla. 2d DCA 1958). This being so, the judgment of costs and attorney’s fees was also properly entered below in favor of the defendant Dr. Santos. §§ 57…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Food Fair Stores OF Fla., Inc. v. Patty, 109 So. 2d 5 (Fla. 1959)
- Foster v. Thornton, 113 Fla. 600 (Fla. 1933)
- Mem'l Hosp. v. Otto Doring, 106 So. 2d 565 (Fla. 2d DCA 1958)