Articles Posted in Personal Injury

Monday a jury in Gwinnett County awarded a plaintiff a five million dollar verdict against the Gwinnett Hospital System for a nursing malpractice.

Plaintiff, Wendy Wyckstandt, 34, returned to the hospital four days after giving birth due to medical complications of postpartum high blood pressure.She collapsed while taking a shower in her hospital room.When her mother entered her room, she found her near lifeless body in the running water. She died a day later; her death caused by drowning.

The nursing staff claimed to have checked on her during the day, but video surveillance proved otherwise.The plaintiff’s attorneys claimed the hospital staff altered records and kept evidence from the plaintiff’s attorneys.Eight years of legal wrangling has finally resulted in a huge verdict award for the plaintiff.The hospital has indicated it will appeal the verdict.

A Friday night tornado ripped through downtown Atlanta, causing serious damage to buildings in the business district.Inside the CNN Center, water flooded parts of the building, shattered glass littered the floor and dust and debris entered from the torn roof. Next door at the Georgia Dome the SEC conference basketball game was halted.The storm ripped part of the ceiling of the dome off.

On Saturday afternoon, a second tornado claimed the lives of two victims in Bartow and Floyd County in north Georgia. That twister was five times wider and stayed on the ground longer than the Friday tornado.One victim was killed when her home was flattened; flying debris killed the other.

Spring is peak season for tornados.Most tornados occur in what is known as “Tornado Alley” which is the plains of the central and southern states – east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Appalachian Mountains.The most frequently hit states are Florida, Oklahoma and Texas.Wind speeds vary from 100 to 300 miles per hour and most tornados are two miles long.Tornados come from the energy released in a thunderstorm.

Today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution front-page article provides a shocking revelation from the Department of Transportation.A twenty-nine year employee charged with inspecting state bridges faked his reports since last fall.Falsified inspection reports could suggest that faulty bridges are safe. A bridge collapse could lead to serious personal injuries or even death for the occupants of vehicles.

The two-man inspection team fell behind in their work, partly because one team member took off a good deal of time from work last year.Rather than own up to missing a deadline, they falsified reports.Not apparently the swiftest, the team claimed to have inspected 18 bridges in one day, which caught the attention of a supervisor.The DOT reports it will send out a new team to inspect the 54 bridges affected by the employee lying scandal.

Bridges are inspected at two-year intervals.However, bridges deemed critical may get an annual inspection.Valid DOT inspection reports show that one in five Georgia bridges are in need of repair or new design.Georgia spends about $100 million a year on bridge maintenance, but claims it needs $2.5 billion to rebuild deficient bridges.

As the Georgia General Assembly is currently in session, another topic that we’ll try to stay on top of for you is the funding of the state’s seven mental health hospitals.The Georgia Department of Human Resources runs these facilities statewide.The seven hospitals are Northwest Georgia Regional in Rome, Georgia Regional in Atlanta, Central State in Milledgeville, East Central Regional in Augusta, Georgia Regional in Savannah, Southwestern State in Thomasville, and West Central Regional in Columbus.

Thanks in large part to an investigative report by the Atlanta Journal Constitution this year; attention has been focused on the appalling medical care deficiencies at these hospitals.Justly, these hospitals have become a hotbed of medical malpractice claims.

In 2007, the hospitals reported twenty-one deaths.One hundred and fifteen patients died in the four-year period from 2002 to 2006.All of these deaths arose from abuse or neglect.Most of these facilities are understaffed and overcrowded.Many of these deaths occurred due to over-medicating, misdiagnosing symptoms, and nurses or aides failing to follow doctor’s orders.

January 14, 2008

The Georgia General Assembly begins its 2008 session today.Constitutionally, the legislature is charged with approving a budget for the state.One critical item on this year’s agenda must be saving cash-strapped Grady Memorial Hospital, which is in critical condition.

Grady Memorial Hospital (“Grady”), in the heart of downtown Atlanta, serves 850,000 outpatients a year and admits 30,000 inpatients.It is the only Level One Trauma Center in north Georgia, and it provides the city of Atlanta’s only emergency ambulance fleet.In addition to treating accident victims, Grady has the state’s only poison center and has an esteemed burn center.Serious accident victims are often transferred to Grady for care.

Last week the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported the case of Teri Ramsey, a former St. Joseph’s Hospital nurse turned whistleblower whose False Claims Act lawsuit against St. Joseph’s cost the hospital $26 million with a net reward to her of $4.9 million.This is the highest paid health care fraud in Georgia history.

Ramsey, a nurse by profession, was hired to review hospital admissions.Within weeks of beginning her job, Ramsey noticed that many outpatient services were billed as inpatient services.The billing distinction allowed for St. Joseph’s to collect significantly more from Medicare.Ramsey complained to supervisors and doctors, but claims she was quickly rebuffed and even told not to “rock the boat.”Ramsey’s persistence caused her to be ostracized by co-workers and intimidated by supervisors.The hospital culture created a disincentive to whistle blowing.

Ramsey persisted, nevertheless.She contacted an attorney and filed a complaint under the federal False Claims Act. This Act, also known as a qui tam proceeding, allows private citizens to sue on behalf of the United States for fraudulent claims on United States funds.The False Claims Act has considerable teeth. Defendants found liable under the Act must pay treble (three times) damages of the actual over billing.Also, the Act provides for civil penalties of $5000 per each fraudulent claim.Finally, in order to encourage private citizens to turn in defrauders, the private citizen is entitled to collect 15 to 25 percent of the recovery.Often, federal prosecutors step into the suit and pursue it on behalf of the government.

Last week, a divided Georgia Supreme Court in Nathans v. Diamond, S07A0738 tightened the rules relating to expert testimony in medical malpractice cases.

In 2003, Dr. Andrew Diamond of Northside Ear, Nose and Throat (Northside ENT) performed surgery on plaintiff Nathans to correct his sleep apnea.During the surgery, Nathan suffered bleeding, respiratory distress and lapsed into a coma.After recovering, Nathans and his wife filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Diamond, claiming he failed to adequately inform him of the risks of the surgery.

As required in Georgia under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-9.1, all medical malpractice complaints must be filed with an attached affidavit of a medical expert attesting that the defendant deviated from the standard of care.The Nathans attached an affidavit of a pulmonologist from Tampa, Florida.

November 26, 2007

Last week, the Wall Street Journal’s (subscription required) front-page story explained insurance subrogation through its personal effect on Wal-mart employee, Deborah Shank.Fifty-two year old Shank worked as a night clerk at Wal-mart for years in order to care for her three sons during the day.Seven years ago while shopping at a yard sale, Shank was hit by a semi tractor-trailer, leaving her paralyzed and brain damaged for life.

Shank’s family sought legal help and eventually obtained a one million dollar settlement, which were the limits of the defendant’s liability insurance policy.With the settlement, the Shanks paid their attorneys, paid off some debts and purchased a wheelchair accessible home for Mrs. Shank.They placed the remaining $417,000.00 in a special trust to care for her at home long term.

In Atlanta and other major cities, an innovative group known as "Critical Mass" has organized to promote riding bicycles among city streets used primarily by motor vehicles. Critical Mass riders seek to promote enthusiasm for bike riding in what has become a “car culture.” Critical Mass hosts monthly Friday rides.

The Atlanta Bicycle Campaign, another bicycle activist group, hosts an annual Share the Road event that promotes safe riding by cyclists on the Atlanta streets. The event hosts an annual ride and raises money to promotes cycling safety on Atlanta streets.

However, cycling in Atlanta is not a smooth ride. In 2001 Bicycling Magazine named Atlanta as the worst city for riding a bike. While Atlanta has the right weather and plenty of bike advocacy groups, the local roads have very few bike lanes. Plus urban sprawl and excessive traffic make riding in Atlanta less than hospitable.

This week the Georgia Court of Appeals threw out a 5.1 million dollar jury verdict against DeKalb County for the wrongful death of a twenty-one year old probationer when he fell off the back of a county garbage truck which he was assigned as part of his community service work. The reason the county prevailed as a matter of law is because of a doctrine known as “Sovereign Immunity” or as we used to call it in law school – “It’s Good to be the King.”

Sovereign immunity originated from English common law which ruled that since the King made the law, he could not be subject to the law. The practical reality that resulted from this was that the government cannot not be sued for negligence. This is not to say that the government was never negligent, but rather if you happened to be injured while struck by a passing fire truck, you could not sue the county that owned the fire truck.

Government lawyers often contend that the government provides services that no one else would risk doing – such as locking up prisoners, chasing criminals, putting out house fires, and stopping traffic. In exchange for these valuable civic duties, the government should not be subsequently liable if things go awry will carrying out these duties. Also, governments argue that they must protect limited government dollars that are collected from taxpayers.