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Hankla v. Jackson

Plaintiff's experts were qualified with the exception of her non-medical expert's testimony on the breach of standard of care.

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Zamarion Everett sustained a permanent brachial plexus injury1 during his birth in 2003. His mother, Anita Jackson, filed the instant medical malpractice action, individually and as next friend of Everett, against Certified Nurse Midwife Vickie Hankla, who attended the birth, and Hankla’s employer, Southern OB-GYN Associates, P.C. collectively “Hankla”. Jackson argued that Hankla breached the standard of care during delivery when she applied lateral traction2 with enough force to cause Zamarion’s injury during her attempts to deliver him during an obstetrical complication known as shoulder dystocia, which occurs when an infant’s shoulders become lodged in the mother’s pelvis after delivery of the head. Hankla filed motions to exclude the testimonies of Jackson’s expert witnesses, R. H. Allen, Ph. D., and Edith D. Gurewitsch, M. D. The trial court denied the motions to exclude, finding that the two witnesses were “qualified as experts in regards to matters involved in this civil matter.” Upon the trial court’s grant of a certificate of immediate review, the defendants applied for interlocutory appeal of the trial court’s denial of their motions to exclude; this Court granted the application. We affirm in part and reverse in part for the reasons that follow.

1. Hankla argues that the trial court abused its discretion by denying her motion to exclude the testimonies of Gurewitsch and Allen without first determining that their expert opinions were reliable and relevant pursuant to OCGA § 24-9-67.1 b and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals .3

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