MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Legal Newsline) – After ruling that an expert was not qualified to testify, an Alabama court reversed a previous denial of a doctor’s motion for a judgment as a matter of law in a wrongful death lawsuit against him.
The Supreme Court of Alabama made the ruling on Jan. 10, reversing the ruling of the Dallas Circuit Court that entered a jury verdict in favor of Anthony Martin.
Dr. Beekman Youngblood filed the appeal stating that expert Dr. Dennis Doblar’s background doesn’t fit the “similarly situated health care provider” requirement, so he shouldn’t have been able to testify in Anthony Martin's case.
Martin filed the case on behalf of his wife, Lanesha Martin, after she passed away following an outpatient sinus surgery in 2006. Martin alleged Youngblood failed to meet the applicable standard of care in administering anesthesia.
Doblar provided expert testimony on Martin's behalf and opined that Youngblood breached his standard of care.
“Dr. Doblar did not give any testimony demonstrating that he was 'licensed by the appropriate regulatory board or agency of this or some other state," Justice Sarah Hicks Stewart wrote. "Therefore, based on the plain language of the statute [section 6-5-548 of the Alabama Code, under the Alabama Medical Liability Act of 1987], Dr. Doblar was not qualified to testify.”
In discounting Doblar’s testimony, Stewart wrote that Martin didn’t provide evidence that Youngblood breached the standard of care and that the alleged breach caused his wife's passing.
Youngblood pointed out that Doblar didn’t comply with a state statute when he failed to testify that he was licensed while giving his testimony. But Martin says Youngblood only made a general objection, not a specific one, to Doblar’s testimony.
Stewart disagreed.
"Dr. Youngblood's objections were 'sufficiently specific' to inform the trial court of the alleged error and to preserve this issue for appellate review," she wrote. "...Because Dr. Doblar was not qualified to testify under Section 6-5-548, the trial court should have entered a (judgment as a matter of law) in favor of Dr. Youngblood," the ruling states.
Chief Justice Tom Parker and justices Michael F. Bolin, Alisa Kelli Wise concurred while Justice Will Sellers.