Groover v. Johnston

An anesthesiologist committed negligence per se by allowing nurses who did not have advanced skills or training to administer narcotics to patients without consulting with a physician prior to administration in violation of O.C.G.A. § 43-34-26.1.

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In this renewal of a medical malpractice case, we granted Dennis Groover’s application for interlocutory appeal from the trial court’s denial of his motion for partial summary judgment. Groover, individually and as the representative of his incapacitated wife, Katheryn Groover, asserted claims of negligence and negligence per se against Dr. Edwin Johnston, Jr. and Johnston’s employer, Coosa Anesthesia, L.L.C. collectively “Johnston”. Groover sought partial summary judgment only as to the claim of negligence per se. We conclude that the trial court erred in finding no negligence per se. To the extent that the trial court’s order prohibits evidence of negligence per se at trial or implicitly grants summary judgment to Johnston, it is reversed. Nevertheless, because the issue of proximate cause is a jury question even when negligence per se is found, the trial court properly denied summary judgment to Groover as to this issue. On appeal, we conduct “a de novo review of the evidence to determine whether there is a genuine issue of material fact and whether the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, warrant judgment as a matter of law.” Citations and punctuation omitted. Blockum v. Fieldale Farms Corp. , 275 Ga. 798, 800 573 SE2d 36 2002.

So viewed, the record shows that Katheryn Groover underwent a routine, elective hysterectomy at Redmond Regional Medical Center. After surgery, she was transferred to the recovery room, which at Redmond is called the post- anesthesia care unit PACU. While there, she was under the care of Johnston, an anesthesiologist, who supervised the nurses in the unit. In the PACU she received several narcotic medications for pain. After slightly more than an hour, she was discharged from the PACU in stable condition.

Groover v. Johnston

An anesthesiologist committed negligence per se by allowing nurses who did not have advanced skills or training to administer narcotics to patients without consulting with a physician prior to administration in violation of O.C.G.A. § 43-34-26.1.

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