In Mercer v. Vanderbilt University, Inc. (Tenn. 2004) 134 S.W.3d 121, the patient had been seriously injured in a single-car accident. His blood-alcohol level at the time of the accident was approximately 0.20 percent. (Id., 134 S.W.3d at p. 125.) The patient's conservator brought a medical malpractice action against the hospital, a nurse and a respiratory therapist, alleging their negligent treatment of the patient resulted in his cardiac arrest, which caused severe and permanent brain damage. (Id. at p. 126.) The plaintiff alleged the therapist attached the patient's ventilator to a half-full oxygen tank that ran out during his CT scans and the therapist and nurse failed to monitor his condition properly during the procedure. (Ibid.) The jury apportioned the fault 70-30 between the hospital and the patient and a judgment for approximately $5.2 million was entered in favor of the plaintiff. (Id. at p. 127.) The court of appeals reversed and remanded for a new trial. The Tennessee Supreme Court reversed and reinstated the jury's verdict in the amount of $7,366,000, with no reduction for the jury's assessment of fault to the patient. (Id. at p. 135.) The court noted that "most jurisdictions have held that a patient's negligence that provides only the occasion for medical treatment may not be compared to that of a negligent physician. ." (Mercer v. Vanderbilt University, Inc., supra, 134 S.W.3d at p. 128.) The court determined these cases were convincing and agreed with the position that patients who may have negligently injured themselves are nevertheless entitled to subsequent nonnegligent medical treatment and to an undiminished recovery if the subsequent medical treatment is negligent. (Id. at p. 130.) Consequently, the court overruled its decision in Gray v. Ford (Tenn. 1996) 914 S.W.2d 464 and stated: "In the present case, the patient's negligence merely provided the occasion for the medical care, attention, and treatment that gave rise to this medical malpractice action. We therefore hold that the principles of comparative fault do not apply so as to allow fault to be assessed to the patient. We recognize that the patient's medical treatment was complicated by his alcohol withdrawal and that evidence concerning his alcohol consumption was clearly relevant to his treatment and to Vanderbilt's theory of causation. We hold, however, that the patient's antecedent negligence should not have been considered by the jury in assessing fault." (Mercer v. Vanderbilt University, Inc., supra, 134 S.W.3d at p. 130.)