Terrell v. West Paces Ferry Hosp., Inc.
| Decision Date | 16 June 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 64210,64210 |
| Citation | 292 S.E.2d 433,162 Ga.App. 783 |
| Parties | TERRELL et al. v. WEST PACES FERRY HOSPITAL, INC. et al. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Platon P. Constantinides, Chamblee, for appellants.
Hunter Allen, Jr., Lorraine D. Hess, W. Ray Eckl, Ross Friend, Atlanta, for appellees.
This is an appeal from a summary judgment for the defendants in a medical malpractice action. Two of the defendants are physicians, and the third is the hospital where the plaintiff underwent a series of operations. The first of these operations involved the removal of part of his duodenum. Following this surgery, the suture lines across the duodenal stump began to leak, discharging intestinal material into the plaintiff's abdomen. Several more operations were subsequently required for the purpose of preventing further leakage, irrigating the abdomen, draining a series of abdominal abscesses which formed as a result of the leakage, and correcting other complications. In his amended complaint, the plaintiff contends that the defendant physicians were negligent in the performance of the original surgery, in failing immediately to detect the leakage from the duodenal stump, in failing to remove completely and properly the intestinal material which leaked into his abdomen, and in using faulty suturing material. The claim against the hospital is apparently based on its role in providing the allegedly defective material.
The defendant physicians denied the allegations of negligence and filed affidavits stating that at all times they had exercised that degree of care, skill, and diligence prevalent in the medical profession generally. They further stated that "the leaking duodenal suture line and the abscesses are known complications of the surgical procedures performed in [the plaintiff's] case and occur despite the exercise of the utmost care and skill by the surgeon performing the operation." The trial court's decision to grant summary judgment was apparently based on the plaintiff's failure to produce contrary medical testimony in support of his claims of negligence. Held :
1. Where the defendant in a medical malpractice suit introduces his own affidavit as an expert witness in support of his motion for summary judgment, and the plaintiff fails to oppose the affidavit by introducing contrary expert opinion evidence, the defendant is entitled to judgment in his favor, provided that actionable negligence does not appear so clearly from the evidence of record that expert testimony is unnecessary to establish a prima facie case. See Parker v. Knight, 245 Ga. 782, 267 S.E.2d 222 (1980); Payne v. Golden, 245 Ga. 84, 267 S.E.2d 211 (1980). See also Howard v. Walker, 242 Ga. 406, 249...
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Killingsworth v. Poon
...testimony would, at that point, otherwise be unnecessary to establish a prima facie case of malpractice. Terrell v. West Paces Ferry Hospital, 162 Ga.App. 783, 292 S.E.2d 433 (1982); Hughes v. Malone, 146 Ga.App. 341, 345, 247 S.E.2d 107 (1978). Examples often cited by Georgia courts of wha......
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Johnson v. Jones, s. 71536
...results" exception. See Landers v. Ga. Baptist Med. Center, 175 Ga.App. 500, 333 S.E.2d 884, supra; Terrell v. West Paces Ferry Hosp., 162 Ga.App. 783(1), 292 S.E.2d 433 (1982). Since the plaintiff failed to submit an expert witness in opposition to avoid summary judgment, and since the pla......
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Oduok v. Fulton Dekalb Hosp. Auth.
...See, e.g., Landers v. Ga. Baptist Med. Ctr., 175 Ga.App. 500, 501–502 (1), 333 S.E.2d 884 (1985) ; Terrell v. West Paces Ferry Hosp., 162 Ga.App. 783, 783–784 (1), 292 S.E.2d 433 (1982).8 Atlanta Women's Health Group v. Clemons, 287 Ga.App. 426, 427, 651 S.E.2d 762 (2007) (footnote omitted)......
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Landers v. Georgia Baptist Medical Center
...in the brief, are not such acts of negligence as would come within the "pronounced results" exception. Terrell v. West Paces Ferry Hosp., 162 Ga.App. 783(1), 292 S.E.2d 433; Hughes v. Malone, 146 Ga.App. 341, 345, 247 S.E.2d Hence, in order for the plaintiff to recover in a medical malpract......