Background Facts
On September 11, 2015, Lucy Pastor (“Pastor”) was transported to Providence Healthcare for rehabilitation after a stroke. At the time of admission, Pastor suffered from renal insufficiency. Due to this ailment, she was under the care of several nurses and Dr. Nair. A week later, Pastor was admitted to Baptist Hospital and eventually transferred to Norton Brownsboro Hospital with renal and respiratory failure. After a lengthy stay, she was transferred to a rehabilitation facility where she remained until she was cleared to return home some months later.
Pastor blamed Providence and Dr. Nair for her renal and respiratory failure and filed a medical negligence action against them. She claimed Dr. Nair deviated from the standard of care, thereby sending her into renal and respiratory failure. Four years later, she passed away from unrelated causes and her estate was substituted as plaintiff in the litigation.
The estate filed expert disclosures identifying a nurse, Kathy D. Shireman, as the only expert witness to testify on Pastor’s behalf. The defendants moved for summary judgment due to the failure to disclose a qualified expert to offer an opinion as to medical causation. The estate argued Nurse Shireman was qualified to explain the causation and could express her expert opinion based on Pastor’s medical and hospital records, Dr. Nair’s diagnosis, and the circumstances of her deteriorated health. The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants, finding that Pastor failed to supply evidence that Nurse Shireman was qualified to render an expert opinion, and the medical records alone were insufficient to establish causation.
The Kentucky Appellate Court affirmed, stating: “The estate needed an expert to explain the records and to testify as to the standard of care, how it was breached, and how that breach caused an injury … the trial court held that to survive a summary judgment motion when the defendant asserts there is no qualified expert to prove the case, the plaintiff must respond with no less than a countervailing affidavit of the expert’s qualifications in the necessary medical specialty … Appellees’ motion for summary judgment claimed there is no evidence the estate could present expert testimony necessary to prove its case. This put upon the estate the onus of providing evidence to the contrary.”
The Kentucky Appellate Court held: “No evidence in this record creates a genuine issue regarding the standard of care, whether Appellees breached that standard, or whether any such breach caused the injuries alleged. For this reason, Appellees were entitled to summary judgment. For these reasons, the summary judgment is affirmed.”
Pastor v. Providence Healthcare of Richwood, LLC, No. 2020-CA-1425-MR.
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