Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
A doctor’s affidavit, along with medical records and another doctor’s deposition, created a genuine issue of material fact that precluded the entry of summary judgment in favor of a widow in a medical negligence case, the Court of Appeals of Indiana has ruled in reversing a lower court’s decision.
David Wellman went to Baptist Health’s emergency room in 2017 and was placed on a ventilator because of respiratory failure.
Hospital specialists including an ER physician, cardiologists and infectious disease doctors consulted on Wellman’s care. Dr. Srinivas Manchikalapudi consulted on Wellman’s cardiac issues due to the risk of endocarditis from a mechanical mitral valve Wellman received in 2011.
Manchikalapudi performed a transesophageal echocardiogram and noted that although it was a “technically difficult study,” he did not believe evidence of vegetation or endocarditis was present.
Wellman’s condition improved, and his ventilator was removed.
But Wellman suffered a brain bleed, and his anti-coagulant medication had to be reversed. He was transferred to a hospital in Louisville, where physicians did further testing, including an additional TEE that indicated several lesions on the mitral valve that were believed to be thrombus rather than vegetation.
Wellman later died at the Louisville hospital.
In 2019, Wellman’s wife, Carla Wellman, filed her second amended proposed complaint before the Indiana Department of Insurance, claiming Baptist Health and Manchikalapudi committed medical malpractice that resulted in Wellman’s death.
Two members of a three-person medical review panel found in favor of the hospital and Manchikalapudi. The third member, a cardiologist, concluded the hospital and Manchikalapudi “failed to meet the applicable standard of care as to the reading of the TEE.”
Carla then filed a complaint in 2021 against the hospital sounding in negligence regarding Manchikalapudi’s care.
In January 2022, Carla filed a partial motion for summary judgment with respect to the standard of care, along with a memorandum and designation of evidence, designating the cardiologist’s opinion and affidavit.
The hospital responded with an affidavit from Manchikalapudi that detailed his treatment and perceived compliance with the standard of care.
The Floyd Superior Court granted Carla’s motion, concluding no genuine issue of material fact existed with respect to the reading of the TEE. The trial court ruled Manchikalapudi’s affidavit alone wasn’t sufficient and that an opinion from an outside expert was required.
Baptist Health then filed a motion to certify the interlocutory order for appeal, which was granted in October 2022.
Carla, in support of her motion for summary judgment, submitted the opinion of the medical review panel, in which the cardiologist, Dr. Jarrod Frizzell, determined the hospital and Manchikalapudi failed to meet the applicable standard of care when reading the TEE.
The designation satisfied Carla’s prima facie burden, the Court of Appeals ruled, shifting the burden to the hospital and Manchikalapudi to designate sufficient expert testimony to show the existence of a genuine issue for trial.
In addition to Manchikalapudi’s affidavit, Baptist Health designated medical records from the Louisville hospital, which the Court of Appeals said “bolstered” Manchikalapudi’s conclusions by noting that clots — and not vegetation — were present on the mitral valve and that endocarditis was never conclusively diagnosed.
Baptist Health also designated the deposition testimony of Frizzell, in which he concluded the medical guidelines for the standard of care allow for variations in the ability to perform all aspects of a TEE depending on the patient’s characteristics, anatomic variations and other factors.
“Here,” the opinion says, “resolving, as we must, all reasonable inferences and all ambiguities in Baptist Health’s favor, we conclude that a fair reading of Dr. Manchi’s affidavit, together with the University of Louisville Hospital records and Dr. Frizzell’s deposition testimony, created a genuine issue of material fact that precluded the entry of summary judgment.”
The case was remanded for further proceedings.
Judge Patricia Riley wrote the opinion. Chief Judge Robert Altice and Judge Rudolph Pyle concurred.
The case is Baptist Health Medical Group, Inc. v. Carla Wellman, Individually and as Surviving Spouse of David Wellman, Deceased, 22A-CT-2585.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.