Anderson Affirmed on Appeal
On June 29, 2010, the First District Appellate Court affirmed an order of summary judgment entered on behalf of defendants in a medical negligence case. Amy L. Anderson represented a family practice physician whom plaintiff alleged failed to refer her to the proper obstetrician in her 38th week of pregnancy. Plaintiff was seen by the referred obstetrician four days later, and evaluated by fetal monitoring which determined the plaintiff was not in labor. Approximately 36 hours later, the plaintiff suffered severe abdominal pain, was rushed to the hospital where she had an emergency cesarean section and found that her uterus had ruptured. The baby died 10 days later. While plaintiff’s expert testified that the defendants deviated from the standard of care, and testified that the outcome would have been different if the defendants had complied with the standard of care, cross examination revealed that the e
xpert did not have any factual support for his opinion. Defendants were granted summary judgment as plaintiff failed to establish that the alleged deviations from the standard of care proximately caused the plaintiff’s injuries.