Pursuant to granted interlocutory appeals, Meadows Regional Medical Center “the hospital”, Dr. Michael Williams and his medical practice, Williams Medical Care Clinic of Vidalia, P.C., contend that the Superior Court of Toombs County erred in denying their motions for partial summary judgment on the issue of Williams’ alcohol addiction in this medical malpractice suit filed by Gloria Booker.1 We consolidate these appeals for disposition and, for the following reasons, we reverse. We conduct a de novo review of the trial court’s ruling on summary judgment, viewing the evidence and all reasonable inferences and conclusions drawn from it in a light favorable to the nonmoving party. Summary judgment is appropriate when no genuine issue of material fact exists and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. A defendant is entitled to summary judgment if it can demonstrate that there is no evidence to create a jury issue on at least one essential element of the plaintiff’s case. A defendant need not affirmatively disprove the plaintiff’s case, but may prevail simply by pointing to the lack of evidence. If the defendant does so, the plaintiff cannot rest on his pleadings, but must point to specific evidence that gives rise to a triable issue of fact. Footnotes and punctuation omitted. Latimore v. City of Atlanta , 289 Ga. App. 85 656 SE2d 222 2008. So viewed, the record shows the following. This is a suit for medical malpractice arising out of a laproscopic cholecystectomy that Williams performed on Booker on March 29, 2001, at the hospital. During Booker’s first post-operative visit on April 6, 2001, Williams observed that she appeared jaundiced and ordered additional tests. Suspecting a bile duct injury, Williams referred Booker to another physician on April 11, 2001. The following day, Booker underwent surgery for a bilateral catheter placement, and the surgeon later removed surgical clips that Williams had placed in Booker’s abdomen during her first surgery, some of which had occluded her common bile duct.
On March 28, 2003, Booker filed the instant action contending that Williams violated the standard of care by improperly placing the surgical clips, which caused Booker to suffer a bile duct injury, and in failing to diagnose timely the bile duct injury. Booker also alleged that Williams was addicted to alcohol and that his alcoholism impaired his ability to perform surgery. Booker further alleged that the hospital was aware of Williams’ alcohol addiction and violated a duty to disclose Williams’ alcohol addiction to her. The appellants moved for summary judgment on the issue of Williams’ alcohol addiction, but the trial court denied the motions, finding that material issues of fact remained for jury resolution.
