Massey v. Mercy Medical Center Redding

Opinion

BUTZ, J.

This is a negligence action against a nurse and, vicariously, the hospital that employed the nurse. Plaintiff Carl R. Massey was a postoperative patient who sustained injury after falling from a walker. The nurse had placed plaintiff on the walker and then left him unattended.

We conclude that the question of the nurse’s alleged negligence for the fall poses a question of common knowledge, and therefore does not require expert opinion testimony. Consequently, we shall reverse that part of the trial court’s judgment that concluded otherwise and that dismissed the negligence…