Higgins v. Detroit Osteopathic Hospital Corp.

This appeal is the result of directed verdicts for defendants in this medical malpractice suit. Two issues are raised. One deals with the court’s determination of whether a witness is competent to testify as an expert. The other concerns the protections of the "Good Samaritan” act when an outside doctor is contacted by a hospital on behalf of a patient.

The facts center around the birth and first few hours of Jamie Lynn Higgins’ life, and can be stated briefly for purposes of this appeal. After birth at defendant Riverside Osteopathic Hospital, the delivery doctors, defendants David Wolf, D.O.…