A medical malpractice suit against the emergency doctor in Georgia, for wrongfully inserting a catheter into a woman’s leg causing its amputation, has been revived by the Georgian appellate judges. It has been stated that solid evidence has been entirely dismissed.
On Friday, the court ruled that a new trial shall begin for Connie Lockhart’s negligence claim against the doctor in Georgia, Glenn Bloom, and Cherokee Emergency Physicians LLC. The trial court granted a verdict in favor of the defendant since the medical expert of Lockhart, Erick Gluck was not qualified to prove emergency care standards so Bloom’s breach of emergency care was not proved.
According to the court of appeals, enough evidence is available to prove that Gluck is qualified to give testimony about the catheter insertion. Lockhart’s lower right leg was amputated in 2012 when a doctor Bloom negligently inserted the catheter in a leg artery instead of a vein leading to medication pooling in her leg and destroying tissues. This happened in the Northside Hospital Cherokee emergency department. A nurse found out the mistake but it was too late as the woman’s leg became gangrenous by then. A lawsuit was filed by Lockhart against bloom, Sachin Lavania, the ICU doctor who put medicines in the catheter, and his employer Cherokee Lung & Sleep Specialists PC.
Gluck was the medical expert of Lockhart who told the court he was not an emergency room physician, thus impacting the case verdict. Gluck’s credibility is now in question and should be accessed by the jury as per appellate judges. The case contains evidence for the standard of care along with Gluck’s opinion about the breach.
Bloom’s violation of the standard of care has been testified by Gluck. According to Gluck, bloom did not check whether the catheter was in the vein or artery, to which bloom responded that he had no reason to suspect misplacement of the catheter.
Lockhart has already won the case against Lavania and his employer in February 2019, the jury granted $4.7 million in damages. A settlement was made between the parties. Now Lockhart is looking forward to winning the case against Bloom.
If you or your loved ones are ever faced in a situation where your medical license is being challenged, know your legal rights through an Athens, GA medical license defense lawyer.
Source: https://www.law360.com/articles/1399969/ga-judges-revive-amputee-s-suit-against-emergency-doctor