'Potential to Mislead the Jury': State Appellate Court Calls for New Med Mal Trial Over Potentially Confusing Jury Instructions
"The instruction that consent need not be in writing was similarly unnecessary because consent was not in dispute. This instruction, combined with the consent instruction, had the potential to mislead the jury into believing that Ms. Harward's nonverbal action of presenting at the infusion center and submitting to treatment was sufficient to establish that she gave informed consent to receive gentamicin," Judge Michele M. Christiansen Forster wrote.
June 16, 2023 at 01:46 PM
6 minute read
The Utah Court of Appeals vacated a jury verdict in a medical malpractice suit where a patient was left with permanent vestibular damage, after determining the jury instruction was potentially misleading over statements concerning "consent."
Judge Michele M. Christiansen Forster authored the June 8 opinion, vacating a jury's verdict in favor of Dr. Brandon Reynolds, a urologist at Urology Clinic of Utah Valley, who was found not to have breached his standard of care to patient Cecilia Harward, and remanded the case for a new trial. Harward claimed she suffered permanent vestibular damage after taking gentamicin, an antibiotic, prior to undergoing a surgery.
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