Pollins v. Jones

In this appeal from a judgment in favor of the defendant doctor in a wrongful death case, we consider whether the evidence presented supported a jury instruction which told the jury to enter judgment in favor of the doctor if it found that the doctor chose one of “two or more alternative courses of action . . . recognized by the profession as proper.”

Nicholas Vaccaro-Pollins (Nicholas) was bom on October 20, 1993 with trisomy 21 (Down’s Syndrome) and a congenital ventricular septal defect. On April 4, 1995, Nicholas underwent surgery to repair the defect in his heart at the Medical College of…