Hutchins v. Fletcher Allen Health Care, Inc.

Plaintiffs Roy and Betty Hutchins appeal from a jury verdict in favor of defendant Fletcher Allen Health Care, Inc. in this medical malpractice action. On appeal, plaintiffs claim the trial court erred in (1) excluding their proposed expert witness, (2) admitting undisclosed expert opinion testimony, and (3) failing to instruct the jury regarding negligence per se and res ipsa loquitur. We affirm.

Plaintiffs’ claim of negligence centers on the fact that doctors employed by defendant left a surgical sponge, a thin rectangle of sterile gauze, in Roy Hutchins’s body after they had opened his…