Knight v. West Paces Ferry Hosp., Inc.

• Decision Date: 17 June 2003
• Docket Number: No. A03A0780.,A03A0780.
• Citation: Knight v. West Paces Ferry Hosp., Inc., 262 Ga.App. 220, 585 S.E.2d 104 (Ga. App. 2003)
• Parties: KNIGHT et al. v. WEST PACES FERRY HOSPITAL, INC.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

585 S.E.2d 104

262 Ga. App. 220

KNIGHT et al. v.WEST PACES FERRY HOSPITAL, INC.

No. A03A0780.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

June 17, 2003.

Reconsideration Denied July 9, 2003.

Certiorari Denied November 10, 2003.

Decker, Hallman, Barber & Briggs, Richard P. Decker, William W. Briggs, Atlanta, Stacey E. Hyken, for appellants.

Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial, Earl W. Gunn, Atlanta, Ashley P. Nichols, for appellee.

JOHNSON, Presiding Judge.

After undergoing cervical disc surgery at West Paces Ferry Hospital, Laura Knight contracted a staph infection, and eventually contracted a permanent, debilitating illness known as pyoderma gangrenosum.Knight and her husband filed a medical malpractice action against West Paces Ferry Hospital, Inc., alleging the hospital nursing staff's negligence caused her to contract the staph infection, and that the staph infection triggered the pyoderma gangrenosum.

West Paces Ferry Hospital denied that its agents acted negligently, and moved for summary judgment.The trial court denied the motion, and the case proceeded to a jury trial.After six days of trial, during the presentation of the hospital's case, the hospital moved for a directed verdict, urging that Knight failed to prove that the staph infection was caused by the negligence of the hospital staff.The trial court granted the hospital's motion for a directed verdict, stating that Knight failed to prove that the nursing staff's failure to wash their hands caused the staph infection.The Knights appeal from the directed verdict.We reverse.

A directed verdict is proper only if there is no conflict in the evidence as to any material issue and the evidence introduced, with all reasonable deductions therefrom, shall demand a verdict.¹In determining whether a conflict in the evidence exists, the court must construe the evidence most favorably to the party opposing the motion for a directed verdict.²

To prove a medical malpractice claim in Georgia, a plaintiff must show: (1) the duty inherent in the health care provider-patient relationship; (2) breach of that duty by failing to exercise the requisite degree of skill and care; and (3) that this failure is the proximate cause of the injury sustained.³

In this case, Knight sued the hospital alleging that the hospital's nursing staff breached the applicable standard of care in the manner in which they administered IV therapy, that the breach caused her to contract a staph infection, and that the staph infection triggered the disease from which she now suffers, pyoderma gangrenosum.The only negligence issue raised on appeal is whether the Knights presented evidence that the nursing staff's failure to abide by the applicable standard of care caused the staph infection.The following evidence was presented at trial.

Knight testified that she was admitted to the hospital for disc surgery on August 5, 1997.During Knight's recovery at the hospital, she and her husband noticed that the staff never wore rubber gloves while inserting intravenous tubes into her arms and never washed their hands before attempting to insert the needles.They observed that on at least nine occasions, when the IV needle came out of Knight's vein, nurses, who were not wearing gloves, restuck her multiple times with the same needle.The Knights noticed that on one occasion, Knight's tubing became disconnected and fell onto her bedding, then was picked up by a nurse, who was not wearing gloves, and reconnected to the IV tubing without the needle being changed.Knight's husband questioned one nurse regarding the nursing staff's handwashing practices, but he was ignored.

On August 8, 1997, the day Knight was released, she had tenderness and soreness on her right arm at the sites of the multiple failed IV insertion attempts.She also had a temperature of 100 F at the time of her release, indicating the presence of an infection.Three weeks later, a small cut on her leg turned into a gaping wound which ulcerated and deepened.She continued to develop skin lesions on her body, including at the IV sites.After multiple hospital stays and doctors' visits, she was diagnosed with pyoderma gangrenosum, a permanent condition which is characterized by continuous infections from open skin wounds.

Julie Webster, a nurse practitioner and expert in nursing care, testified that the nursing staff violated the standard of care for nursing professionals by failing to wash their hands, failing to wear gloves, and reconnecting with their bare hands IV tubing which fell onto the bed.

Dr. Alben Goldstein, a physician who is board-certified in internal medicine and rheumatology, testified that Knight suffers from pyoderma gangrenosum.At trial, he was asked to provide his opinion by assuming various facts already in the record.He was asked to assume that a patient at the hospital was subjected to multiple IV needle sticks and infiltrations, that...