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Southeastern Pain Specialists, P.C. v. Brown

Southeastern Pain Specialists, P.C. v. Brown

Supreme Court of Georgia

March 5, 2018, Decided

S17G0732. S17G0733. S17G0737.

Opinion

 [*265]  [**362]   Peterson, Justice.

These companion appeals raise questions about when a jury considering a medical malpractice case might also be instructed on issues of ordinary negligence. Sterling Brown, Sr. sued the defendants individually and on behalf of his wife, Gwendolyn Lynette Brown, after she suffered catastrophic brain damage, allegedly from oxygen deprivation while undergoing a procedure to relieve back pain. Mrs. Brown died while this suit was pending, and the complaint was amended to add a wrongful death claim.1 A trial in which the court instructed the jury on both ordinary negligence and medical malpractice resulted in an award of nearly $22 million. A divided Court of Appeals affirmed. We granted the defendants' petitions for certiorari to consider their argument that the Court of Appeals erred by concluding that the evidence supported a claim of ordinary negligence.

 [*266]  The plaintiffs' case of medical malpractice was very strong. But a very strong case of medical malpractice does not become a case of ordinary negligence simply due to the egregiousness of the medical malpractice. The Court of Appeals erred [***2]  in concluding that an ordinary negligence instruction was authorized by evidence that a doctor defendant responded inadequately to medical data provided by certain medical equipment during a medical procedure. Because the verdict was a general one such that we cannot determine that the jury did not rely on this erroneous theory of liability, we reverse with instructions that the Court of Appeals on remand order a full retrial as to the appellants.

1. Background and procedural history.

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303 Ga. 265 *; 811 S.E.2d 360 **; 2018 Ga. LEXIS 151 ***

SOUTHEASTERN PAIN SPECIALISTS, P.C. v. BROWN et al. DOHERTY v. BROWN et al. SOUTHEASTERN PAIN AMBULATORY SURGERY CENTER, LLC v. BROWN et al.

Subsequent History: Judgment entered by, Remanded by Doherty v. Brown, 2018 Ga. App. LEXIS 481 (Ga. Ct. App., Aug. 15, 2018)

Prior History: Certiorari to the Court of Appeals of Georgia — 339 Ga. App. 567.

Doherty v. Brown, 339 Ga. App. 567, 794 S.E.2d 217, 2016 Ga. App. LEXIS 669 (Nov. 18, 2016)

Disposition: Judgment reversed.

CORE TERMS

ordinary negligence, oxygen, Phase, medical malpractice, oximeters, pulse, Appeals, punitive damages, retrial, plaintiffs', medical procedure, trial court, circumstances, monitor, providers, medical judgment, blood pressure, patient, pain, responded, medical device, lay person, administered, malpractice, registering, respiratory, impairment, breathing, damages, percent

Civil Procedure, Trials, Jury Trials, Jury Instructions, Torts, Negligence, Healthcare Providers, Types of Liability, Evidence, Types of Evidence, Testimony, Expert Witnesses, Negligence, Duty, Standard of Care, Appeals, Standards of Review, Verdicts, General Verdicts, Judgments, Relief From Judgments