Woodard v. Custer

Fifteen-day-old Austin Woodard was admitted to the pediatric intensive-care unit at the University of Michigan Hospital (defendant) with respiratory problems. He was under the care of Dr. Joseph Custer (defendant), who was the hospital’s director of pediatric critical care and was board certified in pediatrics with certificates of specialization in pediatric critical care. While Austin was receiving treatment, both his legs were broken. Austin’s parents, Johanna and Steven Woodard (plaintiffs), sued Custer and the hospital for negligence. Their proposed expert witness was board certified in pediatrics but neither practiced nor had certificates of specialization in pediatric critical care. The trial court dismissed the Woodards’ claim on the basis that their witness was not qualified to testify regarding the appropriate standard of care. The court of appeals affirmed. In a separate case, Shirley Hamilton (plaintiff), the executor of Rosalie Ackley’s estate, sued Dr. Mark Kuligowski for medical malpractice, alleging that Kuligowski failed to properly diagnose and treat Akley when she presented with prestroke symptoms. Kuligowski was board certified in general internal medicine and specialized in general internal medicine. Hamilton’s proposed expert witness was board certified in general internal medicine but devoted his professional practice to infectious diseases, a subspecialty of general internal medicine. The trial court granted a directed verdict in Kuligowski’s favor on the basis that Hamilton’s witness was not qualified to testify regarding the appropriate standard of care. The court of appeals reversed. The Michigan Supreme Court consolidated the Woodard and Hamilton cases to address the qualifications for expert witnesses in medical-malpractice suits.