This litigation stems from the death of Charles Lamar Vanlandingham in September of 2019. Plaintiff alleged that Vanlandingham suffered a medical episode with seizure activity in the early morning hours of September 15, 2019, and Vanlandingham’s girlfriend called 911. According to Plaintiff, Vanlandingham started to improve in the time it took EMS to arrive. Following the seizure activity, Vanlandingham had apparently transitioned to a “postictal state” that can cause confusion.
Although Vanlandingham was initially compliant with EMS upon their arrival, Plaintiff alleged that “EMS providers tried to force Vanlandingham onto their medical cot,” and when Vanlandingham did not comply, “[EMT] Tuttle ultimately tackled Vanlandingham onto the medical cot.”
Once members of the Oklahoma City Fire Department arrived, Plaintiff alleged that the Firefighters used their body weight to pin Vanlandingham in the prone position for approximately three minutes before Oklahoma City Police Officer Brandon Lee arrived. Officer Lee then put handcuffs on Vanlandingham—still in the prone position—and placed his knee across Vanlandingham’s back.
Plaintiff alleged that Vanlandingham was in this position, handcuffed, for approximately four minutes, during which time “no one checked Vanlandingham’s vitals or advocated for a position change despite Vanlandingham’s clear signs of respiratory distress.” “Without knowing Mr. Vanlandingham’s vitals and without performing any kind of medical assessment,” EMT Tuttle then administered midazolam (a sedative), and Vanlandingham went limp. CPR efforts were unsuccessful, and Vanlandingham died at the scene.
Plaintiff’s claims are against Defendants City of Oklahoma City, Officer Brandon Lee, and American Medical Response Ambulance Service, Inc. (AMRAS). During discovery, AMRAS disclosed an expert report prepared by Molly A. Furin, M.D., M.S., who is board certified in both Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services.
In the present motion, Plaintiff contended that Furin’s offered opinions should be excluded under Fed. R. Evid. 702.
Emergency Medicine Expert Witness
Molly Ann Furin is board-certified in both Emergency Medicine and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and has obtained a Master of Science in Disaster Medicine and Management.
She has worked at a level 1 trauma center for the past 17 years as well as community Emergency Departments.
Discussion by the Court
I. Timeliness of Furin’s Supplement
Furin supplemented her expert report on May 20, 2025. In it, Furin did not expand the opinions listed in her initial report, but she did provide supplemental explanation of her education and experience in the emergency medicine field. Plaintiff contended that Furin’s supplement is untimely under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(e)(2).
Furin issued her supplemental report. However, Rule 26(a)(3) also refers to the deadline to file deposition designations, which has yet to expire. Accordingly, the Court found that Furin’s supplement of May 20, 2025, is timely under Rule 26(e)(2).
II. Daubert Motion
- Paramedic Tuttle and EMT Barnes performed an appropriate rapid assessment of Vanlandingham upon arrival, including checking blood glucose, and could not proceed with further evaluation and treatment because it became unsafe to do so. Evaluating for scene safety is one of the first skills taught in Emergency Medical Services, and the crew appropriately called for additional resources in a timely manner. Physical restraint of Vanlandingham was necessary at the time in order to prevent harm or injury to himself or crew members.
- Upon the arrival of OCFD personnel, including Paramedic Morton, care was correctly transitioned to Paramedic Morton.
- Paramedic Tuttle assisted the OCFD by drawing up and administering midazolam IM as requested. Sedation was paramount in order to further evaluate and treat Vanlandingham. Midazolam is a benzodiazepine, utilized for both sedation and treatment of seizures, and when administered intramuscularly takes a minimum of several minutes to take effect. Given the very brief time interval after administration, the midazolam had no causative role in Vanlandingham’s subsequent cardiac arrest.
- When Vanlandingham sustained cardiac arrest, he was efficiently treated with high quality [Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support] care.
Analysis
First, the Court found that Furin’s initial report failed to clearly identify the basis for her opinions or explain how certain standards or her experience lead to the conclusions reached. Furin did not identify how her experience in the emergency medicine field led to her specific opinions.
Next, Furin’s supplemental expert report did little to expand on the basis for her four opinions. Rather, Furin focuses on her qualifications to issue opinions regarding emergency medicine.
Furin has largely failed—even after supplementing her report—to provide a basis for her opinions. Furin’s experience in emergency medicine, standing alone, is not sufficient to support her opinion that EMS “could not proceed with further evaluation because it became unsafe to do so.” Apart from explaining her experience in emergency medicine and providing examples of transitions of care, Furin’s supplemental report does not sufficiently explain how her experience (or knowledge of the industry standard) led her to opine that the transition of care in this case was “correct.”
Next, Furin’s supplement did not provide a basis for her opinion that “sedation was paramount in order to further evaluate and treat Vanlandingham.”
Although Furin stated that she “reviewed the patient care reports and documents provided to me, and is qualified to opine as to the quality of care provided when Vanlandingham sustained cardiac arrest,” Furin failed to provide any basis or reasoning for her opinion that the care provided to Vanlandingham was efficient and high quality.
A portion of Furin’s third opinion was admissible under Rule 702 and Daubert because Furin has provided a sufficient basis for it. Furin can opine that—given her firsthand knowledge and experience with the administration and onset of midazolam—the midazolam could not have taken effect before Vanlandingham’s cardiac arrest.
Held
The Court granted in part and denied in part Plaintiff’s motion to exclude the opinions of Dr. Molly Furin.
Key Takeaway
It is fundamental that, if the basis for an expert’s opinions is to be tested for reliability, that basis must be identified in some fashion. Absent some identification of the basis for the expert opinion, there is little or no way to test it against any of the guidelines or factors involved in a Daubert analysis or to otherwise determine its reliability.
Case Details:
| Case Caption: | Vanlandingham V. City of Oklahoma City |
| Docket Number: | 5:22cv209 |
| Court Name: | United States District Court, Oklahoma Western |
| Order Date: | March 18, 2026 |
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