Blinzler v. Marriott International, Inc.

81 F.3d 1148 (1st Cir. 1996)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Ps checked into a hotel operated by D. Shortly after 8:30 p.m. the decedent, relaxing in his room, experienced difficulty in breathing. He ingested nitroglycerin (he had suffered heart attacks before) while his wife called the hotel PBX operator and requested an ambulance. The operator received the SOS no later than 8:35 p.m. and agreed to honor it. She promptly told the hotel's security officer and the manager on duty about the medical emergency. D steadfastly maintains that the operator also called an ambulance then and there, the record indicates that she did not place this critical call until some fourteen minutes after receiving the request. The ambulance arrived at 9:02 p.m. P watched her husband's condition deteriorate: he collapsed on the bed, vomited while supine, and apparently stopped breathing. P twice asked hotel personnel whether an ambulance had been summoned when the emergency first arose. She was twice falsely reassured that one had been called. Paramedics could not locate a pulse and discovered that the decedent's airway was blocked. Efforts restored the decedent's heart to a normal rhythm and he was transported to a nearby hospital. Doctors diagnosed the heart attack as a 'very small myocardial infarction.' The brain damage resulting from a prolonged period of asystole without cardiopulmonary resuscitation led to his death three days later. P sued D for wrongful death (count 1), loss of consortium (count 2), and negligent infliction of emotional distress (count 3). P submitted evidence that she beseeched D to summon help at 8:35 p.m.; that an ambulance crew was available and free to respond at that time; and that D agreed to place the call but then neglected to do so. D actually made the call at 8:49 p.m. P's expert witness, renowned cardiologist, testified that serious brain damage (and, hence, death) would have been forestalled had the paramedics reached the premises ten minutes earlier. During the trial, P claimed that D destroyed a telephone log that could have provided the exact time that D made the phone call. D claimed it destroyed the log thirty days after the incident in the ordinary course of business. D objected but the court overruled that objection and allowed P to introduce evidence at the trial of the existence and subsequent destruction of the log, leaving d's explanation to the jury. P got the verdict and both parties appealed.