Stafford v. Neurological Medicine, Inc.

811 F.2d 470 (8th Cir. 1987)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

On January 14, 1985, P went out to chop wood. His wife had begun to prepare dinner but when P returned around 11:00 a.m. he had found she had hanged herself. She had been hospitalized for a bladder disorder. She had lung cancer, but it had not spread, and that operation was successful. She had a number of different tests one of which was to determine if the cancer had spread to her brain. It had not. But, on the claim form submitted by the Doctor to Medicare a D employee wrote the words 'brain tumor' in box 23A of Pauline's form. D claims that this was merely a procedural convenience in order to get payment on Rule Out diagnoses. A copy of this bill was sent to P's home, and eventually, Pauline picked it up and read it. Pauline immediately became withdrawn. She stopped talking. She did remark, however, that she was going to call the doctor on Monday and 'have him tell me the truth about the brain tumor.' On Monday morning, they had no conversation. After breakfast, P went outside to chop wood. When he returned, Pauline was dead. P sued Ds contending that they negligently inserted the words 'brain tumor' on the HCFA form 1500 and that their negligence caused Pauline's death. A psychiatric expert testified, that when Pauline learned of the incorrect brain tumor 'diagnosis,' it created an impulse control disorder that caused her impulsive suicide. Ds moved for a directed verdict at the close of P's case and after the presentation of their evidence. These motions were denied. The jury returned a verdict against Ds and awarded P $200,000. The district court reversed the jury's verdicts, granting judgment n.o.v. for both Ds on the basis that the evidence failed to create a submissible jury issue on the element of proximate causation. The district court also conditionally granted a new trial. P appealed.