Sullivan
Sullivan v. United States Department of the Navy
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Noonan, J.
Mary Sullivan appeals the grant of summary judgment to the United States in this action under the Federal Tort Claims Act (the FTCA). The central question is whether the district court properly excluded the proffered testimony of the plaintiffs medical expert. We reverse the judgment of the district court and remand.
FACTS
We state the facts as presented by the party not moving for summary judgment, as follows:
On April 2, 1999, Mary Sullivan underwent surgery at the Naval Medical Center (the hospital). A mastectomy was performed by Thomas Nelson, M.D., on her left breast to remove cancer. Then Amy Wandel, M.D., F.A.C.S., performed by endoscope the reconstruction of Sullivan’s left breast by relocating a flap consisting of the latissimus dorsi muscle together with overlying tissue and a small panel of skin, moved through the axilla to her chest. Dr. Wandel then performed a mas-topexy or reduction of the right breast. According to Dr. Wandel’s report of the two operations performed by her, they began at 10:30 and ended at 23:50 or 13 hours and twenty minutes later:
In lay terms, the report indicates (1) a cut into the skin where the deep back fat was; (2) a cut into this fat by…