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Estate of Betty Jean Shinholster v. Annapolis Hospital7/30/2004
ntributory negligence scheme that "act as an absolute bar to plaintiffs who were only slightly at fault," Klinke v Mitsubishi Motors Corp, 458 Mich 582, 607; 581 NW2d 272 (1998) (KELLY J., dissenting).
The Court of Appeals stated:
"It would be anomalous to posit, on the one hand, that a health provider is required to meet a uniform standard of care in its delivery of medical services to all patients, but permit, on the other hand, the conclusion that, where a breach of that duty is established, no liability may exist if the patient's own preinjury conduct caused the illness or injury which necessitated the care."
* * * e conclude that the trial court did not err in ruling that the jury could not consider Shinholster's potential negligence in causing the condition for which she sought medical treatment in the first place. Given the preventable nature of many illnesses, to accept a contrary position would allow many health-care professionals to escape liability for negligently treating ill patients. [Shinholster v Annapolis Hosp, 255 Mich App 339, 347-348; 660 NW2d 361 (2003), quoting Harvey v Mid-Coast Hosp, 36 F Supp 2d 32, 38 (D Maine, 1999).]
Stemming from its concern that "'no liability may exist if the patient's own preinjury conduct caused the illness or injury which necessitated the care,'" or that if a trier of fact was permitted to consider a plaintiff's pre-treatment negligence in apportioning fault, "many health-care professionals [would] escape liability for negligently treating ill patients," the Court of Appeals apparently believed that § 6304 set forth a contributory negligence scheme that barred a plaintiff from recovering for injuries resulting from a defendant's negligence if the plaintiff was even slightly at fault for such injuries. These beliefs are unfounded because, as previously mentioned, § 6304 sets forth a comparative negligence scheme. Nothing in § 6304 states or implies that it constitutes a contributory negligence scheme. By adopting a comparative negligence scheme in § 6304, the Legislature recognized, as this Court did in Placek v Sterling Hts, 405 Mich 638, 660; 275 NW2d 511 (1979), that such doctrine "most nearly accomplishes the goal of a fair system of apportionment of damages . . . 'truly distribut responsibility according to fault of the respective parties.'" (Citation omitted.) The fact that a doctor negligently undertook to treat an existing condition may be an important, and in many cases the overriding, factor in the trier of fact's apportionment of fault in determining damages. There is no reason to believe that a reasonable trier of fact will not accord that circumstance as much weight and consideration as it deserves in the particular case. However, there may sometimes be additional factors that will also be relevant in the apportionment of fault in determining damages, including evidence that the plaintiff's own conduct was either negligent, grossly negligent, or even intentional.
III. ADMISSIBILITY OF EVIDENCE
The majority opinion states that "under § 6304, if a defendant presents evidence that would allow a reasonable person to conclude that a plaintiff's negligence constituted a proximate cause of her injury and subsequent damages, the trier of fact must be allowed to consider such evidence when appointing fault." Ante at 10-11. However, the majority opinion does not elaborate regarding what type of evidence may satisfy this standard. In my judgment, only where the defendant presents sufficient relevant evidence, which generally will be based on substantiated scientific or other documented, reliable, and verifiable findings, that a reasonable person could have foreseen that his injury and s
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