Joe Lewis sued podiatrist Charles J. Sidlow and North Georgia Podiatric Medicine & Surgery, P.C., alleging that Sidlow committed malpractice by failing to diagnose a significant foot injury that led to the amputation of Lewis’s leg. After the parties completed discovery, Sidlow moved for summary judgment, arguing that the two-year statute of limitation had run before Lewis filed suit. The trial court denied Sidlow’s motion and granted a certificate of immediate review. This court granted the application, and for the reasons that follow, we affirm the trial court’s denial of summary judgment to podiatrist Sidlow. Lewis had diabetes, and was treated by Sidlow from June 1996 to June 1, 2000. On June 1, 2000, Sidlow diagnosed Lewis with Charcot’s arthropathy in his right foot and gave him an orthotic prescription to have his right shoe adjusted. Charcot’s arthropathy is an arthritic condition involving the midfoot, heralded by increased blood flow to the affecting limb, causing blood pooling, pain, swelling, increased heat, demineralization of the bones in the foot, and bone fractures. After initial onset, the symptoms abate, but left untreated, the condition leads to secondary bone infection and amputation. On June 8, 2000, Lewis was admitted to the hospital with sepsis, an infection in his blood, and was placed on intravenous antibiotics. An MRI of Lewis’s right foot on June 10, 2000 revealed fractures and osteomyelitis, an infection in the bones. He developed gangrene, and his leg was amputated in July 2000. Lewis died in August 2003.
The malpractice complaint alleges that Sidlow failed to exercise a reasonable degree of podiatric care, diligence, and skill ordinarily employed by podiatrists generally under similar conditions, which led to complications and permanent injury to Lewis’s right leg. Sidlow moved for summary judgment, arguing that the complaint was filed more than two years after the statute of limitations began running, relying solely on the pleadings and the deposition he took of Lewis’s expert witness. He contended that the expert testified that the injury manifested itself on March 6, 2000, and therefore Lewis’s complaint was barred.
