PROBLEM #1

Case File:

On August 15,Yr-2,Sandra Day, 74, was admitted to the St. Jude Hospital in Waymart, Pa.Day was there for a series of maladies - heart problems, diabetes, early on-set dementia, and fluid in the lungs.She was assigned to the critical care ward.

Starting August 18, Day's nurse on the 8-4 shift was Melanie Weiss.Weiss had the option of using restraints on Day, because Day's multiple conditions led her to throw her body around, risking injury.Weiss did not opt for the restraints, deciding to first observe Day by regularly checking her in the room.During the morning, there was no problem.Day was seated in an upright chair next to her bed.

After lunch on August 18, Weiss returned to the room and Day was on the floor, writhing in an apparent seizure.She was bleeding from the head.Day's daughter Hortense Burke came in, saw her mother, and became overwrought.Sandra Day was rushed to the ER and then to another hospital.In a coma for two weeks, Day then died.

Day's daughter Hortense has brought suit against St. Jude Hospital and Weiss, on behalf of her mother's estate, for wrongful death and medical malpractice.The claim is that (a) Sandra Day should have been in restraints; and (b) even with no restraints, there was a duty to monitor her every 10 minutes, and this duty was breached because Weiss did not keep to that tight a schedule; and the fall caused the come and death.The joint defense of the hospital and Weiss is that the decision to leave Day in the chair was reasonable, especially in light of the regular checks by the nurse; and that the coma was a result not of the fall but of internal bleeding in the brain [cranial bleeding] that existed when the mother entered the hospital.

Trial takes place in December,Yr-0 [the current year].

Question 1

Hortense wants to testify that after she calmed down and her mother had been taken to the ER, the head nurse (who came on duty just after the fall of the mother) said to her "we are so sorry for our neglectful behavior."

Group of answer choices

a) The statement is admissible against the hospital and against Nurse Weiss.

b) The statement is inadmissible as an offer of settlement or compromise.

c) The statement is inadmissible because the head nurse had no personal knowledge of what happened.

d) The statement is admissible against the hospital, but not against Nurse Weiss.

Question 2

Assume for this question only that Hortense is permitted to testify as set forth in question 1.May she be asked, on cross-examination, whether she was the planner of a major fraud, in which 50 elderly persons lost their life savings, inYr-12?

Group of answer choices

a) No, because this is beyond the ten year limit.

b) Yes, because this proves a motive for this lawsuit.

c) Yes, in the judge's discretion, as a fair challenge to her credibility.

d) No, because this is a civil case.

Question 3

The head nurse, Rose Salvaggio, is called to testify by the Day estate.Salvaggio will say "I was on and off the wing of the hospital the day this happened, but I know I saw Nurse Weiss one or two times before the fall of the patient, and I remember that Nurse Weiss seemed distracted, like something was on her mind."

Group of answer choices

a) The testimony is inadmissible, as it addresses the mental state of a defendant.

b) The testimony is inadmissible, as it does not resolve the critical fact at issue, whether Nurse Weiss was in the room a sufficient number of times.

c) The testimony is admissible, as there is a "state of mind" exception to the ban on hearsay.

d) The testimony is admissible as relevant and based on first hand knowledge.