Abelar

INTRODUCTION

This is a medical malpractice and loss of consortium action brought by plaintiffs and appellants Dee Ann Abelar and her husband Brian Abelar (plaintiffs)1 against, as pertinent here, defendants and respondents Dr. Ira Tilles and Dr. Pejman Badiei,2 together with their medical corporations, Tilles M.D. Corporation, and Pejman Badiei, M.D., Incorporated (collectively, defendants.) Plaintiffs appeal from judgments entered after the trial court granted defendants’ motions for summary judgment. Plaintiffs’ case concerns an alleged failure by defendants, and others, to diagnose and treat an infection. Dee Ann underwent surgery to remove a mass from her brain. Several weeks after the surgery, she suffered a prolonged grand mal seizure and was admitted to the emergency department at Simi Valley Hospital. There, she was evaluated and treated by Tilles and several other physicians. She was discharged the same day but returned 10 days later exhibiting stroke-like symptoms. She was again treated in the emergency department by Tilles and by Badiei upon her admission to the hospital, where she remained for more than a week until she was transferred to another facility, USC Keck…