posted by admin on Mar 10
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1 usually mark them as exhibits so I can get copies at
2 the end of the deposition.
3 MR. R.: Okay. Well, that’s the
4 part I’m objecting to is making them a part of the
5 deposition. I don’t see the relevance of that.
6 MR. GERSHON: Okay.
7 MR. R.: But I don’t have a
8 problem with you looking at them, so I’ll — you know,
9 we will make you copies.
10 MR. GERSHON: Why don’t we do this:
11 Miss C. Reporter, you do not have to mark them as
12 deposition exhibits.
13 And, Murry, just send me copies of
14 them, whatever, in tomorrow’s mail.
15 MR. R.: Okay. We’ll do that.
16 BY MR. GERSHON:
17 Q. Sir, did the letters contain any
18 information about the case?
19 A. No.
20 Q. Okay. Have you worked with Mr. R. or
21 anyone in his firm before?
22 A. Yes, I have.
23 Q. On how many occasions?
24 A. I asked that question this morning,
25 anticipating your question, and I was reminded we –
12
1 M.R. and I worked on one other case that went
2 to trial. So I have worked with him on that one case.
3 To the best of my knowledge, that’s the only case that
4 I’ve worked with him on.
5 Q. How about anyone else in his firm?
6 A. I’m looking at the letterhead, and no names
7 look familiar, so I think that’s the only one.
8 Q. Okay. Do you know how Mr. R. got your
9 name to review this case?
10 A. Well, I think because we had worked
11 together, I assume that he called me or contacted my
12 office because of that prior experience. But I don’t
13 know how my name surfaced that time either.
14 Q. In that prior experience were you defending
15 the hospital?
16 A. No, it was the doctor.
17 Q. Have you ever worked with D.G. or
18 anyone in his firm before?
19 A. I really can’t tell you. The name doesn’t
20 ring a bell.
21 Q. How about Mr. Darby? Does that name ring a
22 bell?
23 A. Not really.
24 Q. Did you make any notes, sir, upon your
25 review of any of this material or discussions with
13
1 counsel?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Do you have them in front of you?
4 A. I do.
5 Q. How many pages of notes?
6 A. Two.
7 Q. Are these the only notes you ever made in
8 this case?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. No other scratch notes or scribblings or
11 yellow stickies with little notes on them?
12 A. No.
13 Q. When did you make these two pages of notes?
14 A. I’m sorry. What did you say? Where or
15 when?
16 Q. When? When, sir?
17 A. When I initially reviewed the record, back
18 in January of 1998, and probably added a few things
19 after perhaps reading a deposition or two, but I think
20 that’s about it. And I got the deposition — excuse
21 me — I got the deposition in February of this year, so
22 a few notes have been made in February of 1999.
23 Q. Okay. When was the last time before we
24 started today’s deposition that you discussed the case
25 with defense attorney?
14
1 A. Of course, I discussed it today. I don’t
2 remember the last time we discussed it. I do know that
3 we — I spoke to the attorney in February of 1998,
4 giving him my opinions on this case. But I don’t
5 remember any discussions since then — other than this
6 morning when we — when I met with counsel prior to the
7 deposition.
8 Q. How long did you meet with him prior to the
9 deposition?
10 A. About 40 minutes.
11 Q. Sir, I’m going to be giving you my fax
12 number. Do you think you can fax me those two pages of
13 notes?
14 A. Sure.
15 Q. It is a toll-free number. It’s
16 1-888-596-6778.
17 MR. R.: Okay. Do you want us to
18 take a break and do that right now?
19 MR. GERSHON: Just take a two-minute
20 break. That would be great.
21 MR. R.: Okay.
22 I’ll just take them to your secretary.
23 MR. GERSHON: Maybe before you fax
24 them, maybe we should mark them as Deposition Exhibits
25 2(a) and (b).
15
1 MR. R.: That’s fine. She’s doing
2 that right now.
3 (Exhibits 2(a) and 2(b)
4 marked.)
5 (Short recess taken.)
6 BY MR. GERSHON:
7 Q. Sir, have you ever been sued before for
8 medical malpractice?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. On how many occasions?
11 A. One.
12 Q. In two lines or less, what was that case
13 about?
14 A. Premature labor management. The patient
15 was transported to us at somewhere between 34 and 37
16 weeks, and we stopped tocolytic therapy after a mature
17 LS ratio was obtained. The patient went into labor a
18 few days later and delivered a child that eventually
19 developed cerebral palsy but seemed to be
20 prematurity-related, and it was thrown out of C. by
21 summary judgment by the judge.
22 Q. Have there been any other cases, sir, where
23 maybe a hospital you’ve been associated with has been
24 sued for allegations of malpractice on your behalf but
25 you were not personally named in the lawsuit?
16
1 A. Well, our labor and delivery suite is
2 filled with patients and doctors, and over the years we
3 have had so few lawsuits that have been filed and I
4 have not been named. But I couldn’t possibly remember
5 any of those in any detail.
6 Q. In any of those lawsuits where you were not
7 named and the hospital was sued, was there any
8 allegations of malpractice on your behalf?
9 A. No.
10 Q. Okay. Now, in this case, sir, am I correct
11 you’re giving testimony on behalf of the hospital –
12 the nurses, that is?
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. And you’re going to be giving what’s called
15 standard-of-care testimony and causation testimony;
16 correct?
17 A. Just standard of care in this case, because
18 I don’t — I don’t think I’m qualified to address
19 causation. I have an opinion.
20 Q. Fair enough.
21 A. You know, I have an opinion, but I don’t
22 think it reaches the level that the C. would demand
23 for expertise in causation.
24 Q. Well, it makes for a shorter deposition if
25 it’s just standard of care.
17
1 A. Well, it’s standard of care.
2 Q. Okay. Sir, do you know if Mr. R. has
3 any other experts besides yourself to defend the
4 hospital in this case?
5 A. I don’t know. I’ve never asked him.
6 Q. Have you on any other occasions, sir, given
7 testimony to defend the actions of hospital nursing
8 personnel?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Were there any similar cases to this one
11 where there’s allegations that nursing personnel, for
12 example, did not call a physician in a timely manner?
13 A. Oh, I’m sure there have been. That’s a
14 relatively common complaint in legal dispute matters in
15 looking at hospital defense. So from the plaintiff’s
16 side and from the defense side I have reviewed a number
17 of cases where that’s the issue, although I couldn’t
18 tell you which cases they were. I certainly know that
19 there have been a number of them.
20 Q. Okay. What percentage, sir, of plaintiff’s
21 cases that you get to review do you find to be
22 meritorious for the plaintiff?
23 A. Years ago when I looked at that figure, it
24 was only about — I think it was like one out of five
25 cases.
18
1 But over the years, and certainly in the
2 last five years, I’ve noticed that the plaintiff cases
3 that have been sent to me are perhaps a little bit more
4 rigorously reviewed by others before it gets to my
5 desk. And I think that percentage has gone up
6 dramatically; it may be as high as 50, 60 percent at
7 this time.
8 Q. Okay. How about the defense cases you were
9 sent? What percentage of those do you feel are not
10 defendable?
11 A. I looked at that, again, many years ago,
12 where it was about 10 percent, and I think it’s
13 probably somewhere in the 10 to 20 percent range now.
14 So somewhere around 80 percent of the cases I have been
15 able to defend, and another 20 percent I’ve had to tell
16 the attorneys that I could not help them — or that
17 they had significant problems in the defense of the
18 case.
19 Q. Okay. You are, am I correct, head of
20 obstetrics and gynecology at your hospital?
21 A. Just obstetrics. I’m Division Director of
22 Maternal-Fetal Medicine and not — I am not the
23 chairman of the department.
24 Q. Oh, I see. Do you have a private practice
25 in obstetrics?
19
1 A. Yes.
2 Q. How is that in conjunction with the — I
3 mean, is your office in the hospital where you see
4 patients?
5 A. Yes. We have a clinic, the Vanderbilt
6 Clinic, where we are given office space, nursing care,
7 the usual of any private office. And ever since I came
8 here in 1972, all of the V.medical group
9 doctors are given an opportunity to have a private
10 practice in the V.Clinic.
11 Q. Okay. How many days a week do you see
12 patients in your clinic?
13 A. Two.
14 Q. Okay. Are those full days, Doctor?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. And so the hours are, what, like eight to
17 five?
18 A. Oh, nine to four sounds more like it.
19 Q. Okay. And is it basically just two days a
20 week that you see those patients?
21 A. Yes. I’ve, over the years, reduced it. It
22 used to be about four days a week, and it’s now two
23 days a week.
24 Q. Okay. When was that reduction? Do you
25 know approximately?
20
1 A. It’s been about five years ago.
2 Q. Okay. What do you do with your time the
3 other three days a week?
4 A. I — as administrator to the division, I do
5 a fair amount of divisional administrative work. I
6 teach the residents. I take call schedules, which is
7 one week out of every five. So I’m — the weeks I’m
8 on, I have to work from 7:30 in the morning to 7:30 at
9 night. I’m involved in research and writing. I
10 have — I spend a half a day a week on medical-legal
11 matters, including depositions and discussions with
12 attorneys on cases that I have reviewed over the
13 weekend in my home.
14 And then I have a lot of outside
15 activities. I write a column for the newspaper here in
16 N., in The Tennessean, which goes out across the
17 country. And I’m just involved in a lot of different
18 things that somehow fills the week up very nicely.
19 Q. That half day a week, sir, that you’re
20 involved with medical-legal activity, is that a set
21 half day a week, or does it float each week?
22 A. It changes, depending on — for example,
23 the half day is today. But sometimes it could be on a
24 Thursday or a Friday if I have a deposition.
25 Q. I see. So when are your clinic days?
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