Gretencord-Szobar v. Kokoszka

Jury verdict for Defendants in medical malpractice trial. Plaintiff alleged that Defendants were negligent in that consulting surgeon failed to either perform exploratory surgery to find the cause of decedent's abdominal pain or perform surgery to repair a possible small bowel obstruction shown on X-ray. Court did not abuse its discretion in denying Plaintiff's request to instruct the jury on short form IPI Civil 12.05 (short form proximate cause instruction), and instead providing jury with IPI Civil No. 15.01 (long form proximate cause instruction). Providing jury with IPI 12.05 was unnecessary as IPI 15.01 adequately informed the jury that it was not limited to determining a single cause for the decedent's injury. Court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting Plaintiff's lost-chance nonpattern jury instruction based on the Holton decision. Providing the jury with IPI 15.01 properly stated the law as to the lost-chance doctrine. Court did not abuse its discretion in providing jury with modified IPI Civil No. 31.13 and informed the jury that decedent had a life expectancy of 1-3 years. The average jury could not be expected to know the impact of incurable mantle cell lymphoma on decedent's life expectancy, and Plaintiff's expert testimony was undiputed. (McDADE and HOLDRIDGE, concurring.)