Mayes

INTRODUCTION

Tracy Mayes, wife and mother respectively of plaintiffs Cornell Sterling Mayes, Alan James Mayes, and Christopher Scott Mayes, died at Huntington Memorial Hospital where she had undergone surgery to staple her stomach. Plaintiffs brought this wrongful death action against several physicians and nurses and their institutions who had been involved in Mrs. Mayes’s treatment, including David C. Bryan, M.D., and Hill Medical Corporation. (Dr. Bryan and his corporation are hereinafter referred to as defendants.) Plaintiffs’ theory at trial was that Dr. Bryan’s negligent postoperative interpretation of a lung scan led the other physicians involved to treat Mrs. Mayes for a pulmonary embolism even though she was suffering from a bowel obstruction, and to delay reoperation that could have prevented her death. The jury found that Dr. Bryan was negligent and his negligence was a cause of Mrs. Mayes’s death. Judgment was entered against Dr. Bryan in the amount of $867,107, plus costs of $37,146.22.

Defendants appeal asserting instructional error. We hold that defendants invited any error in the substantial factor instruction and cannot be heard to complain on appeal.…