Doreika v. Blotner

This is a professional negligence case in which Paul Doreika alleged that he sustained serious injuries as a result of chiropractor Gregg Blotner’s treatment. Doreika specifically asserted that Blotner failed to inform him about the risks of neck adjustments or treatment alternatives for his neck before performing a neck adjustment which either caused a herniated disc or aggravated a pre-existing disc condition. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Blotner. Doreika appeals, alleging the trial court erred in refusing to give requested jury charges regarding the law on informed consent. Our duty in this case is to first determine whether the doctrine of informed consent applies to chiropractors in Georgia. If it does, we must then decide whether the trial court erred in not instructing the jury on informed consent in light of the evidence introduced at trial. 1. Georgia’s Informed Consent Law.

We find that Georgia law required Dr. Blotner to obtain Doreika’s informed consent prior to rendering chiropractic treatment. In Ketchup v. Howard ,1 this Court corrected dicta in old cases that had been carried forward for years. In doing so, we brought Georgia in line with that of the other 49 states by recognizing the common law doctrine of informed consent and expressly indicating that a medical professional must inform a patient of the material risks of a proposed treatment or procedure which are or should be known and must inform the patient of available alternatives to the proposed treatment or procedure.2