Day on Torts
Tennessee law requires that the plaintiff present expert proof that the defendant violated the standard of care applicable in the community in which the care was given at the time the care was given. Proof of the standard can come from an otherwise qualified expert who knows the standard of care in that community or in a similar community. This rule is codified in Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-115(a).
In Marsha McDonald v. Paul F. Shea, M.D. and Shea Ear Clinic, No. W2010-02317-COA-R3-CV (Tenn. Ct. App. February 16, 2012), the Court of Appeals engaged in a lengthy discussion of whether Plaintiff ’s expert was qualified to testify under Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-26-115(a). The court’s reasoning was guided by the recent Tennessee Supreme Court case of Shipley v. Williams, 350 S.W.3d 527 (Tenn. 2011). In Shipley, the Supreme Court rejected the notion that an expert must have personal, first-hand knowledge of the standard of care by actually practicing in a community. The Supreme Court also held that “expert medical testimony regarding a broader regional standard or a national standard should not be barred, but should be considered as an element of the expert witness’ knowledge of the standard of care in the same or similar community.”
These two holdings in Shipley gutted the majority of Defendants’ objections to the competency of Plaintiff ’s expert in this case.
Since I was not asked to do so during my deposition, I am providing such a comparison now. The Los Angeles and Memphis medical communities, though somewhat different in scale because of the difference in population, are nevertheless similar communities. They are both homes to university-based medical centers and university-based medical training programs. They both have community and specialty hospitals. They both offer a large number of medical specialties, including otology. Adjusting for the difference in population, Memphis and Los Angeles also have a comparable number of health care facilities and beds. In summary, there is really no appreciable difference in the medical communities of Memphis and Los Angeles. At a minimum, they are similar communities. The medical and physiological considerations involved in the determination of whether to use transtympanic perfusion therapy on a patient, and whether to use Gentamycin or Streptomycin as the medication of choice in such a procedure, are not influenced any geographic differences between the Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee community or the Los Angeles, California community. Physicians practicing otology in both of these communities have access to the same medical information concerning transtympanic perfusion therapy and whether to use Gentamycin or Streptomycin as the medication of choice in such a procedure. Further, the diagnosis of Ménière’s does not change from community to community. The diagnostic criteria are well understood within the specialties and do not change based on geographic location. All of this is true no matter the specialty nor [sic] location, but it is particularly true in sophisticated medical communities such as Los Angeles and Memphis. For consideration of all the issues that pertain to this case, it is my personal and medical belief that Los Angeles and Memphis are similar medical communities. This is not a situation where a community is impaired in its ability to deliver services because of lack of financial commitment, resources, information, or ability to provide services. In every way a patient presenting such as Marsha McDonald did to the Shea Clinic in July of 2004, should be subject to the same standards of care whether in Los Angeles, Memphis, or many other similar communities. Having pointed out the many similarities between the Los Angeles and Memphis medical communities, I can think of absolutely no differences between them for the purposes of this case other than the proportionally commensurate larger number of doctors and nurses in Los Angeles.