The following blog entry is written from a defendant’s position as trial approaches. Reviewing this kind of briefing should help potential plaintiffs and clients better understand how parties in personal injury cases 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 medical malpractice/personal injury case and its proceedings.)
Defendants, The Surgery Center, PC., and Ellen Brown, O.T.R., submit the following trial brief on causation in support of Defendants’ proposed special jury instructions.
MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES
INTRODUCTION
This is a medical negligence action in which Plaintiff alleges negligent treatment by Defendants during hand therapy following repair of a distal radius fracture of the left wrist resulting in Plaintiff’s Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.
As the Court is aware, in medical malpractice cases, the plaintiff must establish each of the following basic elements:
(1) the duty of the professional to use such skill, prudence, and diligence as any other member of her/its profession commonly possess and exercises;
(2) a breach of that duty;
(3) a proximate causal connection between the negligent conduct and the resulting injury; and
(4) actual loss or damage resulting from the professional negligence. Simmons v. West Covina Medical Clinic (1989) 212 Cal.App.3d 696, 701-702.
This brief will address the law of causation as it applies to trial of the liability phase in this medical negligence action, in support of the special jury instructions proposed by Defendants. (See Part 2 of 6.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.