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Aguilar v. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Inc.

The doctor who submitted the expert affidavit with the plaintiff's medical malpractice complaint was not a qualified expert.

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Janaly Aguilar appeals after the trial court granted Children’s Healthcare’s and Dr. Joseph Schultz’s motions to dismiss this medical malpractice suit. Aguilar alleged that her ten-month-old son Jonathon died as a result of the improper insertion of an intubation tube. The trial court granted the motions to dismiss, holding that the doctor who submitted the expert affidavit was not qualified because he was not regularly engaged in the active practice of emergency pediatric medicine, the subject specialty, for three to five years prior to the alleged negligence. We agree and affirm.

The pleadings show that Jonathon was having difficulty breathing and was suffering with abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea when Aguilar brought him to the hospital’s emergency room. Jonathon was intubated to help with his breathing. According to the complaint, the intubation tube was not properly secured and “slid into the right mainstem bronchus.” Aguilar also alleged that the intubation tube remained there for 23 minutes before it was removed and secured properly. A short time later, life support was discontinued. The cause of death was acute myocarditis.1 The expert affidavit submitted with the complaint alleged that the hospital and doctor failed to provide appropriate emergency treatment, including immediate intubation when the patient was critically ill and suffering from myocarditis; failed to properly secure the tube; and failed to realize that the tube had slid into the right mainstem bronchus until approximately 23 minutes after intubation.

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