Pamela Joplin, Individually and in her capacity as of the Estate of Patricia A. Kinney v. Kathleen A. Cassin, M.D.

Syllabus

The defendant, Kathleen A. Cassin, M.D., appealed from a Superior Court order granting a motion for a new trial in favor of the plaintiff, Pamela Joplin. This medical malpractice action arose out of the death of Patricia A. Kinney, who lost her battle with ovarian cancer in 2014. On appeal, the defendant argued that the trial justice erred in granting the plaintiff's motion for a new trial because reasonable minds could come to different conclusions about proximate causation when considering the evidence in this case. Further, the defendant argued that the trial justice improperly eliminated proximate cause as a separate and distinct element of negligence. The Supreme Court held that reasonable minds, in considering the evidence presented in this case, could come to different conclusions on the question of whether the plaintiff had met her burden of establishing that the defendant's breach was the cause of Mrs. Kinney's death. Further, the Supreme Court concluded that the trial justice erred by replacing the jury's determination with her own. Accordingly, the Supreme Court vacated the Superior Court's order and remanded the case with instructions to reinstate the jury's verdict and enter judgment in accordance with that verdict.