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Case Briefing

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |
October 07, 2003

Physician's Testimony Allowed over Objections

In a wrongful death action, the Court of Appeals of Arkansas, Division One, upheld a jury's award of compensatory damages and $4 million in punitive damages against Arrow International, the manufacturer of a device that facilitates insertion of a catheter into a patient's body, despite Arrow's objections concerning the qualifications of plaintiff's physician witness. Arrow International Inc. v. Sparks, CA 02-75, 2003 Ark. App. LEXIS 107 (2/12/03).

Plaintiff, the administratrix of decedent's estate, sued the doctor, the hospital and Arrow for her father's wrongful death. After settling with the doctor and hospital, the case proceeded to trial, where the jury awarded $700,000 in compensatory damages (25% apportioned to Arrow, making it liable for $125,000) and punitive damages. After hearing testimony from plaintiff's physician witness that decedent's excessive bleeding could not have occurred in the manner asserted by Arrow, the jury found that Arrow's percutaneous sheath introducer, which has two parts, was inherently dangerous and that the separation of the two parts caused decedent to bleed to death.

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