Torres

Petition for writ of mandate to direct respondent superior court to grant a motion to preclude petitioner Tony Torres’s former treating physician from testifying as a defense expert witness on the medical negligence standard of care employed by subsequent treating physicians and for a protective order prohibiting ex parte communication by defense counsel with the former treating physician. Petition denied in part and granted in part.

Facts

After sustaining a spinal cord injury during heart surgery, Harvey Torres, through his guardian ad litem, Tony Torres (Torres), sued real parties in interest P. O. Daily, M.D.; UCSD Medical Center; Robert Reich-man, M.D.; and David Sahn, M.D. (collectively Real Parties), for damages for medical malpractice. On August 24, 1979, six years before the surgery, Allan Goodman, M.D. (Goodman), as medical director of the Earl Taylor Non-Invasive Vascular Laboratory at Donald N. Sharp Memorial Community Hospital, reviewed the results of a coarctation study performed on Torres. Goodman prepared a letter report, dated August 24, 1979, which contained his opinion of Torres’s heart condition, based upon the coarctation study.

In their…