Following a trial in this medical malpractice action, the jury returned a verdict in favor of defendants Stephanie Smith, M.D., and Gwinnett Anesthesia Service, P.A. “GAS”. In Case No. A12A0014, the plaintiff, Chong Yang, appeals from the final judgment and from the denial of her motion for new trial, contending that the trial court abused its discretion in denying her motions in limine to exclude certain testimony of two expert witnesses for the defense. In Case No. A12A0015, Dr. Smith and GAS cross-appeal, contending that the trial court abused its discretion in denying their motion to exclude certain testimony of one of Yang’s expert witnesses, as well as in excluding the testimony of one of their defense witnesses. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment in Case No. A12A0014, and dismiss as moot the appeal in Case No. A12A0015. The standard of review for all four of the enumerated errors is the same. “The issue of the admissibility or exclusion of expert testimony rests in the broad discretion of the trial court, and consequently, the trial court’s ruling thereon cannot be reversed absent an abuse of discretion.” Punctuation and footnote omitted. Carter v. Smith , 294 Ga. App. 590, 591 1 669 SE2d 425 2008. Further, “we review a trial court’s ruling on a motion in limine for abuse of discretion. A motion in limine is properly granted when there is no circumstance under which the evidence under scrutiny is likely to be admissible at trial.” Punctuation and footnote omitted. Hankla v. Jackson , 305 Ga. App. 391, 392 1 699 SE2d 610 2010.
Viewed in favor of the jury’s verdict,1 the evidence shows that, in 2005, Yang suffered an injury to the area around her left eye. In 2006, after being treated for severe facial pain by several other physicians and alternative practitioners and after trying numerous prescription medications without success, she sought treatment from Dr. Gurudat Setty at GAS. Dr. Setty initially diagnosed Yang with trigeminal neuralgia, and he recommended a trigeminal nerve block injection near a facial nerve as an initial effort to block the pain and to verify the diagnosis. According to Dr. Setty, if the trigeminal nerve block did not relieve Yang’s pain, then other diagnostic and treatment modalities would have to be pursued to discover and address other potential causes of the pain, such as atypical facial pain, a tumor, multiple sclerosis, lupus, sarcoidosis, or disk herniation, among others. Dr. Setty’s partner, Dr. Smith, performed the trigeminal nerve block injection on June 14, 2006. Dr. Smith recommended that Yang return for a second trigeminal nerve block injection in two weeks.
