Peggy W. McBride Individually and as Next Friend of Susan Kay McBride v. United States of America, a Body Politic and Sovereign

EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge:

After Commander Robert McBride, a retired naval officer, suffered a fatal heart attack, his widow and minor children commenced this wrongful death action against the United States under 28 U.S.C. § 1346(b). They claim the death was proximately caused by negligent failure of the duty doctor at Tripler Army Hospital, Hawaii, to admit McBride to a coronary care unit.

The parties agreed to bifurcate the trial and to litigate first the issue of liability, with the court as trier of fact. At the close of the plaintiff’s evidence, the trial judge granted the…