Green v. North Arundel Hospital Association11/27/2001
Rodowsky, J., concurs and dissents, Bell, C.J., dissents
Before us is a medical malpractice action that commenced in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City but was eventually tried in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. Through his parents, the severely injured plaintiff, Darwin Green, sued respondents, North Arundel Hospital Association (NAHA) and Drs. Richard T. Fields, Stewart P. Axelbaum, and Hashad R. Mody. Because liability was in significant dispute and the injury allegedly resulting from the defendants' conduct was severe, the court bifurcated the case, undoubtedly to avoid potential prejudice to the defendants, and proceeded first on the issues of liability. At the conclusion of the plaintiff's case as to liability, the court dismissed the action against NAHA and Mody on the ground that there was legally insufficient evidence of negligence on their part that contributed to Darwin's injury, and at the end of the entire case on liability, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the other two defendants, Drs. Fields and Axelbaum. The issue of damages was thus never submitted to the jury.
Plaintiff appealed to the Court of Special Appeals, which affirmed the Circuit Court judgments. Green v. North Arundel Hospital, 126 Md. App. 394, 730 A.2d 221 (1999). We granted certiorari to consider two basic issues: (1) whether the Circuit Courts in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel County properly concluded that venue lay in Anne Arundel County, and (2) whether the trial court erred in precluding Darwin, who, as a result of his injury, was essentially in a motionless vegetative state, unable either to communicate or to understand the proceeding, from being brought into the courtroom for a period of less than an hour during the two-week trial as to liability, to be exhibited to the jury "to demonstrate his current condition." Convinced that there was no error in either regard, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.
BACKGROUND
Darwin Green was born on February 12, 1977 and was 20 at the time of trial. He was born with hydrocephalus - a medical condition in which abnormal accumulation of fluid in the cerebral ventricles causes increased brain pressure. Nine days after birth, a shunt was placed in the right cerebral ventricles of his brain to drain the extra fluid into other parts of his body and thereby relieve the cranial pressure. The shunt was revised once when Darwin was one year old, and a second shunt was placed in his brain at age four. Darwin had a limited intellectual capability but was able to attend school, take special education classes, and go on family vacations.
On the morning of August 17, 1988, Darwin began to experience a headache, which continued despite his taking Tylenol. Later that day, he began to vomit and feel nauseous. His symptoms continued the following day, and he seemed drowsy. Concerned, his father took Darwin to the NAHA emergency room around 11:00 a.m., where Dr. Fields, the physician on duty, examined him at 1:00 p.m. Because Darwin was complaining of a severe headache, Dr. Fields ordered several laboratory tests, including an emergency CT scan. Dr. Axelbaum, a radiologist at NAHA, reviewed and interpreted Darwin's CT scan. He noted the presence of shunts in Darwin's brain and a number of other abnormalities - a subdural hygroma with a calcified cyst causing some mass effect in the left cerebral hemisphere, a large right parietal porecephalic cyst, and possible aqueductal stanosis. Nevertheless, he concluded, and informed Dr. Fields, that those conditions reflected "old" changes. Dr. Fields then consulted with Dr. Hashad R. Mody, a neurologist, who advised that Darwin could be discharged once the headache was
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