[DOWNLOAD] "Welsh V. United States" by United States Court Of Appeals For The Sixth Circuit ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Welsh V. United States
- Author : United States Court Of Appeals For The Sixth Circuit
- Release Date : January 20, 1988
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 74 KB
Description
In this medical malpractice action brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act for wrongful death arising from surgery in a Veterans Administration hospital, the District Court after a bench trial awarded plaintiff-appellee $606,203.95 in damages against the United States. Plaintiff's decedent died from an E. Coli infection of the brain (meningitis) after a prolonged period of decline that followed two brain operations in 1980, the first on June 9 to remove a large benign brain tumor and the second on October 15 to treat the infection. The United States argues on appeal that the verdict was based upon insufficient evidence of negligence and proximate causation and upon impermissible inferences drawn by the District Court. The outcome of this appeal turns upon what effect a defendant's negligent destruction of crucial evidence under its exclusive control should have on the plaintiff's burden of proof. Two acts by the hospital surgeons in this case create a rebuttable presumption of negligence and proximate causation against the defendant--the negligent destruction of a skull bone flap after the second operation, and the consequent failure at that time to undertake a pathological examination of this evidence in accordance with customary standards of medical practice. The defendant has not rebutted that presumption, and the judgment of the District Court therefore is affirmed.