Mitchell v. Los Robles Regional Medical Center

Filed 11/2/21 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

STACY MITCHELL, 2d Civil No. B309123 (Super. Ct. No. 56-2019- Plaintiff and Appellant, 00528548-CU-PO-VTA) (Ventura County) v.

LOS ROBLES REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER,

Defendant and Respondent.

Stacy Mitchell fell in the Emergency Department at Los Robles Regional Medical Center (Hospital) bruising her face and badly injuring her knee. The trial court granted summary judgment to Hospital because Mitchell filed her complaint beyond the one-year statute of limitations for medical professional negligence. (Code Civ. Proc., § 340.5.)1 Appellant contends the trial court erred because Hospital’s negligence did not involve the provision of medical services. We affirm.

All further statutory references are to the Code of Civil 1

Procedure, unless otherwise noted.

FACTS On the evening of May 26, 2017, appellant, in distress over the death of a pet, swallowed 60 Naproxen tablets. She vomited twice and had abdominal cramps. Appellant, accompanied by her husband, “presented” at the Hospital emergency department at 7:23 a.m. on May 27. An emergency room physician took her history and noted that appellant was still experiencing nausea and abdominal pain and had a resting tremor. Appellant was alert, oriented and had no acute distress. The physician noted no motor deficits or sensory deficits. His impression was that appellant had suffered an acute kidney injury. At 8:05 a.m., the registered nurse assigned to appellant noted her history of nausea and vomiting and her muscle tremor. Appellant was calm and cooperative and not experiencing pain. The nurse placed an IV catheter in appellant’s left forearm. Nearly two hours later, the nurse noted that appellant walked to the toilet with assistance from her husband. He further noted that appellant walked back to her bed without assistance. On the way back, appellant fell, causing abrasions to her nose and forehead and severely injuring her knee. About 30 minutes after the fall, appellant was seen by an internal medicine physician. Appellant told the physician that, on the way back from the restroom, her legs just “gave out” and she fell to the floor. Appellant was admitted to the hospital where she was treated with antibiotics for possible sepsis. A head CT scan showed no intracranial findings and a chest x-ray showed no acute cardiopulmonary findings. An x-ray and CT scan of