Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
The following blog entry is written from a defendant’s position during pre-trial litigation. Reviewing this kind of briefing should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in a medical malpractice case present such issues to the court.
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the participants in this personal injury case and its proceedings.)
NO ACT OR OMISSION OF UMH CAUSED PLAINTIFF’S CLAIMED INJURIES
The law is well settled in California that causation must be proved within a reasonable medical probability based on competent expert testimony. Mere possibility is insufficient to establish a prima facie case. (Jones v. Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation (1985) 163 Cal.App.3d 396, 402.) The cause of an injury has been defined as something that is a substantial factor in bringing about an injury. (Mitchell v. Gonzales (1991) 54 Cal.App.3d 1041.) Thus, to recover from UMH for medical negligence in this action, plaintiff must prove that the purported negligence of UMH was a substantial factor in bringing about the claimed injuries.
Sandy Singer has opined that no act or omission by UMH’s nursing staff caused or contributed to plaintiffs alleged injuries. It is a physician function, rather than a nursing function, to order treatment for patients. Nurse Singer has opined that the nurses properly observed and reported Ms. White’s condition and progress to her treating physician. The nurses appropriately monitored Ms. White during her early labor, and followed the doctor’s orders. The nurses appropriately observed and reported on the condition and progress of the fetuses’s based on the fetal monitor. The nurses appropriately recorded their observations in Ms. White’s chart and on the fetal monitoring strips. The nurses also followed the appropriate protocols for medication administration during early labor, as well as the protocols for early labor, and for the labor and delivery of extremely premature infants.
Based on the foregoing, plaintiffs are unable to prove that the care and treatment rendered to the twins by UMH was a substantial factor in bringing about the alleged injuries. As such, UMH’s motion for summary judgment should be granted. (See Part 8 of 9.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.