A nurse anesthetist noticed his neck was sore while at work on March 9, 1993. He subsequently visited the emergency room where a CAT scan was done. Several days later he was admitted to the hospital suffering from a stroke. In October 1995, he read two articles which raised a question in his mind whether the stroke should have been diagnosed at the 1st ER visit. He filed a lawsuit in 1996. Was his lawsuit barred?

          After collapsing at home, a woman was rushed to the hospital where she was diagnosed with intercranial hemorrhage and hematoma. A catheter was placed into her brain cavity to drain excess fluid and surgery was scheduled the following morning. Sometime during the night after surgery, an ICU nurse connected the patient's IV line to the catheter draining fluid from her brain. Approximately 296 cc’s of fluids containing various medications and electrolytes infused before the nurse on the following shift checked the patient as she came on duty. The trial court judge refused to allow a board certified neurosurgeon to testify that the nurse’s error caused the patient’s death because he could not testify with “scientific certainty” the exact mechanism of death. It was undisputed that the nurse breached the standard of care, but without expert testimony on the cause of death, the case could not be submitted to the jury and was dismissed. Was the judge right or wrong?