Negligence: Medical Negligence-Future Damages-Attorneys’ Fees

Where plaintiff brought a medical-negligence action against health care providers alleging that a failure to diagnose led to short bowel syndrome requiring extensive ongoing medical care, and both parties appealed following a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff, the judgment finding the defendants liable for the injuries is affirmed because the plaintiff presented substantial evidence that the doctor’s failure to order an inpatient ultrasound and his discharge of the plaintiff violated the standard of care and contributed to the injury, and the court did not err in submitting a verdict-directing instruction or by admitting the testimony of the plaintiff’s medical expert or the testimony of his life care planner, but the portion of the judgment relating to the periodic payment of future medical damages and attorneys’ fees is reversed and remanded because the court failed to adhere to a mandatory formula for calculating the payments and the court failed to award a sum sufficient to pay the attorneys’ fees as required after the court was informed of the parties’ contingency fee arrangement.

Judgment is affirmed in part; reversed and remanded in part.

Lowe v. Mercy Clinic East Communities (MLW No. 73986/Case No. ED106447 – 28 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, James M. Dowd, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Franklin County, Williams, J. (Philip L. Willman, Teresa M. Young, William Ray Price Jr., Jeffery T. McPherson and Paul L. Brusati for appellants) (Edward D. Robertson Jr., David M. Zevan, Rachel L. Roman, Edward D. Robertson III and Kelly Frickleton for respondents).