Howard v. United States, No. 19-1910 (8th Cir. 2020)
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Plaintiff, the widow and executrix of her late husband's estate, filed suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), alleging a claim of medical malpractice on behalf of the estate and alleging individually a claim of wrongful death. The claims stemmed from injuries her husband suffered during a fall, shortly before his death, while hospitalized in a Veterans Affairs hospital.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's claims, holding that the district court did not err in dismissing the medical malpractice claim in the absence of a breach of the applicable standard of medical care. In this case, substantial evidence supported the district court's factual findings with respect to the husband's condition on the morning of the fall and the care the nurses provided him to and after his fall. The court also held that the district court did not err in dismissing the wrongful death claim in the absence of an underlying tort claim.
Court Description: [Shepherd, Author, with Gruender and Arnold, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Federal Tort Claims Act. Plaintiff's decedent died after a fall at a V.A. hospital, and she brought this suit under the FTCA, alleging medical malpractice and a claim of wrongful death; the district court's conclusion that decedent did not appear dizzy on the morning of his fall was supported by substantial evidence; the district court did not err in determining that under the circumstances there was no breach of the applicable standard of care and that plaintiff had not, therefore, established a case of medical malpractice under Arkansas law; under Arkansas law, the underlying tort in a wrongful death claim would be the medical malpractice committed against decedent and, since the court correctly determined there was no malpractice, the wrongful death claim also fails.
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