Galvez

Introduction

This is a medical malpractice case in which Nathaniel Galvez sues defendant Michael Frields, M.D., for wrongful life, contending that Frields failed to make reasonable efforts to ensure Nathaniel’s mother, Michelle Sepulveda, was given a blood test to detect the presence of the neural tube defect from which Nathaniel suffers. Plaintiff filed this action against Frields and several other defendants. Following a trial during which the trial court refused to give a jury instruction on negligence per se (BAJI No. 3.45), the jury found that Frields was not negligent in his care of Sepulveda. Nathaniel appeals and asserts as the sole claimed error the trial court’s refusal to give the negligence per se instruction. We conclude that the court erred in refusing to give the proffered instruction. Such error was clearly prejudicial, and we therefore reverse and remand for a new trial.

Factual and Procedural Background

“Since the only contention on appeal related to a jury instruction, ‘[i]n assessing an instruction’s prejudicial impact, we cannot use the view of the evidence and inferences most favorable to the [prevailing party], [Citations.] Instead, we must…