The case involves a $20,000,000 verdict reached in a medical malpractice/wrongful death case. Regina Honts as the personal representative of the estate of Doris Green, sued HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Gadsden. Doris Green became nonresponsive following rehabilitation for a urinary tract infection, showed positive for opiates, which were not prescribed to her, and suffered neurological and cognitive impairment until her death by stroke.
HealthSouth Gadsden appealed that they were not responsible for the occurrence as no evidence showed that an HRHG nurse or any other HRHG employee had given Green an unprescribed opiate. The Supreme Court of Alabama reversed the trial court’s judgment and remanded the case for a new trial.
The court concluded that there was significant circumstantial evidence to imply breach of the nursing standard of care, but the jury was wrongly instructed on hospital standard of care, thus misleading them.