647 So. 2d 653 - Smith v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[C]onsider a patient who suffers a heart attack and dies as a result. Assume that the defendant-physician negligently misdiagnosed the patient's condition, but that the patient would have had only a 40% chance of survival even with a timely diagnosis and proper care. Regardless of whether it could be said that the defendant caused the decedent's death, he caused the loss of a chance, and that chance-interest should be completely redressed in its own right. Under the proposed rule, the plaintiff's compensation for the loss of the victim's chance of surviving the heart attack would be 40% of the compensable value of the victim's life had he survived (including what his earning capacity would otherwise have been in the years following death). The value placed on the patient's life would reflect such factors as his age, health, and earning potential, including the fact that he had suffered the heart attack and the assumption that he survived it. The 40% computation would be applied to that base figure.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smith v. State Dept. of Health & Hosp.

2. “the percentage probability of loss, if less than 50%, is the proper measure of the plaintiff's damages in a case of wrongful death due to medical malpractice.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smith v. State Dept. of Health & Hosp.

3. “percentage probability by which defendant's tortious conduct diminished the likelihood of achieving some more favorable result.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smith v. State Dept. of Health & Hosp.