In this medical malpractice action, we affirm the summary judgment granted to the appellees, Washington State Prison the “Prison”, Dr. Michael Rogers, the Prison’s medical director, the Georgia Department of Corrections “GDOC”, and the State of Georgia. On appeal, our review is de novo, and we construe the evidence, and all inferences therefrom, most favorably to the plaintiffs, as the opponents of summary judgment.1 So viewed, the record shows that Patricia Walker, a 36-year-old inmate who had been serving a life sentence at the Prison, died on August 18, 1999, in a county hospital as a result of massive pulmonary thromboemboli. Four months earlier, on April 26, 1999, Walker had gone to the Prison infirmary complaining of dizziness, shortness of breath, and chest pain. She was taken to Central State Hospital the “Hospital”, where Dr. Luc Nguyen-Tuong performed tests and diagnosed Walker with anterior myocardial ischemia, hypertension, and exogenous obesity. Nguyen-Tuong discharged her on April 30, 1999, with instructions to obtain an EKG in two weeks. An EKG was performed in the infirmary on May 14, 1999, which revealed no symptoms of heart disease. On August 17, 1999, Walker returned to the infirmary complaining of shortness of breath and dizziness. No immediate action was taken by the examining nurse. On the next day, Walker came back and was seen by a different nurse, who immediately summoned Rogers. Walker’s skin was cold, clammy and pale; her vital signs quickly worsened, and despite life-saving measures, she died on the way to the hospital. An autopsy revealed that her heart was normal; the cause of death was massive pulmonary thromboemboli.
Jermaine Green, Walker’s son, and Janice Green, the administratrix of her estate, filed a medical malpractice action on March 16, 2001, under the Georgia Tort Claims Act “GTCA”, OCGA § 50-21-20 et seq., alleging that Walker’s death resulted from improper diagnosis and treatment at the Prison’s infirmary and at the Hospital. The plaintiffs named as defendants the Prison, Rogers, and the Georgia Department of Corrections “GDOC”, which owns and controls the Prison; the Hospital, Nguyen-Tuong, and the Georgia Department of Human Resources “GDHR”, which owns and controls the Hospital; and the State of Georgia. The expert affidavit attached to the complaint specified allegations of negligence only against the two physicians and a nurse at the Prison.
