Patrick Salvi II

A 23-year-old girl with gallstones has her gallbladder removed in an outpatient procedure. In their haste to discharge her, the post-operative nurses quickly process the patient through each post-op phase and discharge the patient, despite there being warning signs that something was not right. She was vomiting, nauseated, having trouble holding down liquid, had not yet urinated, and had a declining blood pressure. She asked a nurse on the way out whether it would be okay to relieve her nausea with marijuana. Then, on the ride home, the patient’s sister notices that the patient was going in and out of consciousness. The patient’s sister called the hospital for advice. The nurse receiving the call chalked it up to low blood sugar and advised that the patient should drink something sugary, like orange juice. The patient’s lethargy only worsened after she got home, and ultimately, she lost a pulse. This prompted the patient’s family to call 911 and to get her back to the hospital. There, she was found to have significant bleeding, which led to her death. The Plaintiff alleges that the policies and procedures for discharging such a patient provided inadequate guidance, which was institutionally negligent, and that the nurses who handled the discharge and the follow up phone call were negligent in not keeping the patient in the hospital for further evaluation by a physician and for failing to advise the patient during the follow up call to come back to the hospital promptly. The Defendants deny that any of the findings before discharge indicated something was wrong. Rather, Defendants assert that these findings are very typical after an operation with general anesthesia. Further, the Defendants assert that the patient was in fact told to return to the hospital during the follow up phone call.

• List of issues to discuss in voir dire:
  • General voir dire on the following subjects:
  • Only one chance to make a first impression
  • Medical malpractice
  • Wrongful death
  • Damages
• Policies and procedures in the workplace designed to promote safety
• Marijuana use – whether jurors may hold it against the decedent
• Outpatient procedures and the process of having the surgery and being discharged
• Obtaining cause challenges for medical professionals on the jury