Supreme Court Affirms Chambers County Verdict
| 
The Supreme Court of Alabama has affirmed a $1.75 million verdict and judgment obtained by Hare Wynn in a medical malpractice wrongful death case. Justice Kelli Wise, for a unanimous 9-0 Court, affirmed the judgment without opinion.
“I am very pleased that our State Supreme Court has validated and affirmed a fair and just jury verdict which was based on clear and convincing evidence,” states Hare Wynn’s Shay Samples, lead trial counsel for the plaintiff. “This is a very important victory for the safety of patients in hospitals throughout the State of Alabama. This is the first appellate decision in Alabama upholding the legal principle that a hospital’s staff must go up the chain of command to obtain safe care and treatment of their patients when a doctor on staff at the hospital has failed to provide safe care and treatment. This is a monumental decision which will go a long way toward protecting patients in Alabama.”
The case, Michelle Coulter, as administrator of the estate of Cynthia Renee Strong, deceased v. Lanier Health Services, went to trial in 2009 and is believed to be the first medical malpractice plaintiff’s verdict in Chambers County. The jury returned a $1.75 million verdict in a wrongful death suit against Lanier Memorial Hospital, ruling in favor of the plaintiff, Michelle Coulter, suing for the wrongful death of her sister, Cynthia Strong, who died in 2004.
The suit alleged that nurses at Lanier Memorial Hospital negligently failed to follow the existing “Chain of Command” procedures following an order by Dr. Swaroop Nyshadham to release Cynthia Strong, in spite of an extremely-elevated white blood cell count. Dr. Nyshadham said he believed the lab results to be in error and stated he would repeat the test on the following day. The “Chain of Command” required that the nurses take appropriate action to insure that the patient gets safe care and treatment. The plaintiff alleged that Cynthia Strong required intravenous antibiotics and should not have been discharged. Plaintiff further contended that it was dangerous to discharge Cynthia Strong, which negligent discharge resulted in her death. Approximately sixteen hours after her discharge, Cynthia Strong died; an autopsy indicated her death was due to peritonitis and septic shock.
The style of the appellate case is Lanier Health Services v. Coulter, No. 1090716 (Ala. Dec. 16, 2011). [Dr. Nyshadham settled before trial for $750,000, leaving Lanier to pay the remaining one-million dollars.]
Click the PDF to read Coulter’s appellee’s brief filed in the Alabama Supreme Court by Hare Wynn’s appellate lawyer, Bruce J. McKee.
