Sw. Emergency Physicians, P.C. v. Nguyen (Summary)

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Sw. Emergency Physicians, P.C. v. Nguyen, No. A14A0942 (Ga. Ct. App. Nov. 21, 2014)

The Court of Appeals of Georgia reversed a trial court’s decision to grant partial summary judgment for a patient in a negligence lawsuit against a hospital. The lawsuit was brought by the parents of a six-month-old child, who ended up in the hospital’s emergency room after she fell out of bed and hit her head on a suitcase. In the emergency room, a physician’s assistant diagnosed her with a minor scalp contusion and did not call in a physician or order radiology studies. The child was eventually readmitted to the hospital after suffering respiratory distress; it was determined that she had suffered severe and permanent neurological injuries from an undiagnosed subdural hematoma.

At trial, the parents moved for partial summary judgment, arguing that under Georgia law, a hospital can be found liable for ordinary negligence if it fails to provide a certain level of emergency medical care. Specifically, the parents argued that their child could not have received emergency medical care, because none of the providers in the emergency room believed that her symptoms actually presented a medical emergency. The trial court agreed and granted their motion.

On appeal, the hospital argued that the issue of whether emergency medical care had been provided was a question of fact and therefore had to be presented to the jury. Consequently, it claimed the trial court had erred in granting partial summary judgment to the patient. The appellate court agreed and reversed the earlier decision, explaining that a jury had to evaluate whether the child was suffering from an actual emergency when she presented to the emergency room.