Herrington v. Gaulden (Summary)

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Herrington v. Gaulden, No. S13G0577 (Ga. Nov. 25, 2013)

The Georgia Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the court of appeals denying a motion for summary judgment filed by the medical director of a hospital’s emergency department and held the medical director was not liable for the death of a patient whom he did not treat.  The patient suffered cardiac arrest and died while in the emergency department of the hospital.  Her daughter sued the medical director of the emergency department, alleging that he negligently failed to ensure that the patient’s treating physician and nurse were adequately trained in the implementation of the hospital’s chest pain protocol.   The Georgia Supreme Court instructed that summary judgment should have been granted to the medical director because he “had no responsibility or authority as medical director to control or direct ‘the manner and method’ of care rendered to [the patient] by her treating physician and nurse.”  Furthermore, there was no evidence that the medical director escalated the risk to the patient by his alleged failure to adequately supervise the training of the emergency department physicians and staff.