Bauer v. White

— This medical malpractice case pits the apparent categorical requirement of RCW 4.24.290 and RCW 7.70.040 for e:xpert testimony to support a medical negligence claim against the long-standing Washington rule that unintentionally leaving a foreign object in a surgical patient is negligence per se. McCormick v. Jones, 152 Wash. 508, 278 P. 181, 65 A.L.R. 1019 (1929). Dr. Travis White inadvertently left a 2 1 /4-inch pin in Margaret Bauer’s tibia. Dr. White’s expert opined that no standard of care required him to account for the pins following surgery. Mrs. Bauer did not respond with a contrary…