Wilson

Plaintiff Charles M. Wilson (Wilson), a paraplegic, suffered a torn rotator cuff and a fractured shoulder during a manipulation under anesthesia procedure performed by a chiropractor, Dr. Mark Wardenburg (Wardenburg). Wardenburg was assisted during the procedure by a medical doctor, Dr. Andrew Walter Merritt (Merritt). Wilson filed a medical malpractice complaint against Merritt. Merritt made a motion for nonsuit, claiming he had no obligation to obtain Wilson’s informed consent to the procedure. The court granted the motion and judgment was entered in favor of Merritt. Wilson appeals.

Wilson, who says a previous surgical procedure rendered him a paraplegic, insists that no one ever warned him prior to the manipulation under anesthesia procedure that he could suffer either a fractured bone or a tom rotator cuff. He maintains that if anyone had warned him, he never would have had the procedure. He argues that the court erred in finding that Merritt, who purportedly had marketed and recommended the procedure and to whom Wilson had posed questions about possible complications, had no duty to obtain his informed consent to the procedure. We hold that whether Merritt had a…