WWHGD Wins Medical Malpractice Case

Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial, LLC (“WWHGD”) attorney Bob Tanner recently won a medical malpractice case before the Georgia Court of Appeals. On behalf of Defendants/Appellees, a surgeon and his practice group, they obtained a ruling affirming the dismissal of all claims.

The Plaintiff initially filed suit against his treating surgeon, his professional corporation and St. Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta in the State Court of Fulton County. He alleged that Defendants breached the applicable standard of care by failing to maintain a sterile surgical environment during an orthopaedic procedure to replace a knee. In support of his Complaint, the Plaintiff submitted the Affidavit of a non-surgeon infectious disease specialist.

A Motion to Dismiss was filed on behalf of the Defendant doctor and his corporation asserting that the Plaintiff had failed to set forth any specific act of negligence committed by Defendants and that the affidavit of the non-surgeon infectious disease specialist was insufficient to support a claim against an orthopaedic surgeon. This Motion was granted by the trial court, and in January 2008, the Plaintiff filed a Notice of Appeal.

On April 16, 2009, the Court of Appeals issued a ruling in favor of the Defendants/Appellees, affirming the judgment of the Court below. The win was big for WWHGD and its clients in that the Court of Appeals, instead of offering a formal, published opinion on the matter, simply adapted the Appellees arguments and based its ruling on "the reasons and authority given in Appellees' brief."