Appropriate level of monitoring for a cardiac patient is a question of professional negligence

The Court of Appeals properly and logically rejected a cardiac patient's claim that his nurses' allegedly negligent monitoring of a bleeding catheter was not a malpractice issue. The patient claimed that the nurses' actions were ordinary negligence and that his claims did not require expert testimonial support. 

The Court noted that ordinary persons without medical training are not properly qualified to judge the actions of cardiac nurses charged with monitoring a cardiac patient's care.  The nurses should be judged based upon their compliance with a skilled person's understanding of the appropriate "standard of care", which ordinary jurors cannot possibly assess without the benefit of expert testimony. The patient's negligence case, brought without complying with the malpractice rules, was dismissed.