Atlanta Injury Lawyer Blog

Gwinnett County, Georgia Jury Delivers Long-Awaited Justice in Wrongful Death Medical Malpractice Trial

May 29, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

A Gwinnett County, Georgia jury has awarded $5 million in damages to the family of a new mother who drowned in a bathtub at Gwinnett Medical Center. An expectant mother, hospitalized with preeclampsia, drowned in a hospital shower after being told she was OK to shower without anyone there to check on her. This was a retrial of the case. The first trial ended in a hung jury. During this second trial, however, the jury, apparently, found that the Gwinnett Hospital nurses violated hospital policies and procedures regarding assessing a patient’s condition, determining fall risk, showering unassisted, etc.

During the second trial it was discovered that the hospital had been hiding several relevant policies and procedures that had never been produced in the first trial, but should have been under Georgia discovery rules. In addition, there were surveillance cameras that would have established when or if the nurse went into the room and it was discovered that the tapes had been altered. There was a missing thirty minute section of the tape where two cameras that corresponded to the crucial time period suddenly went dark. Fortunately, this attempted subversion of the Civil Justice System did not prevail and the jury delivered a verdict that spoke the truth about the value of a 34 year old mother who, obviously, shouldn’t have died while in the hands of the very professionals who had vowed to take care of her. My thoughts are with her family today so that they may take some relief that the jury system worked for them.

New Georgia Uninsured Motorist Law Signed by Governor Benefits All Georgia Citizens

May 15, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

Georgia Trial Lawyers Association

Protecting the Constitutional Promise of Justice for All by

Guaranteeing the Right to Trial by Jury,

Robin Frazer Clark Obtains $2.5 Million Judgment in Medical Malpractice Case

April 13, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

On April 9, 2008 I tried a bench trial and secured a $2.5 million verdict in DeKalb County, Georgia State Court on behalf of my clients for the loss of their unborn child due to medical malpractice. The trial was at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur, Georgia. This was a tragedy to my clients that, as with all medical malpractice cases, never should have happened. The case involved a claim for the wrongful death of a 14-16 week old fetus.

The medical malpractice action arose when a doctor failed to see the fetus on

sonograms. The obstetrician told my client he could not see a fetus in her womb on ultrasound and recommended she undergo a procedure to remove any “byproducts of conception.” He then conducted a defective D & C and prescribed a medicine, Methotrexate, (which is essentially chemotherapy)

Georgia Supreme Court Upholds Athens-Clarke County Jury Verdict of $13 Million Against Ford Motor Company

April 1, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

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The Georgia Supreme Court has issued an opinion affirming an Athens-Clarke County jury’s verdict of $13 Million to the widower of a woman who burned to death in a rear end collision on Highway 129. This is an important decision because it was based on the fact that Ford Motor Company refused to turn over relevant crash data in the case that it was required by law to provide to plaintiffs. The Georgia Supreme Court, in essence, has said in Georgia, we are going to hold big corporations, including car manufacturers, to the letter of the law. Below is an article from the Athens paper, the Athens Banner-Herald, with more details.

Family closer to award in fiery crash

Ford loses appeal in gas-tank explosion, death

Dangerous Times for Georgia Citizens’ Rights at the Georgia Legislature

March 31, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

Today is Day 37 (out of 40) of the Georgia Legislature and it can be a dangerous time for Georgia citizens’ rights during these last four days. A prime example is what occurred last Friday when an amendment was attached to a bill at the last moment that would adversely affect Georgia citizens’ rights who wish to bring a products liability case against certain manufacturers. This products liability amendment was attached to, of all things, a bill that seeks to change the words “seat belt” to “life belt” in the Georgia Code. Fortunately, the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association was ready to defend Georgia citizens’ rights and not let the Civil Justice Dismantlers get away with it. For an inside look at this, below is the “Political Insider’s” take from The Atlanta Journal and Constitution this morning.

Buckle up your life belts. We’re in for a bumpy finish

Sunday, March 30, 2008, 04:00 PM

Seat Belts Save Lives

March 27, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution’s Editorial Board came out on Monday in favor of legislation currently pending in the Georgia General Assembly that would toughen penalties for teenagers who are caught not wearing their seatbelts while they are driving or riding in a car. The legislation, HB 924, is currently “dead” because it was not passed by one house prior to “cross-over” day, the deadline for legislation to pass at least one house to be considered by the other house. The sponsor of the legislation, Representative Melvin Everson (R-Snellville), will be looking at other bills still alive to which he could attach his seatbelt legislation.

This legislation is a good idea. As both a personal injury trial lawyer in Atlanta and a mother of a teenager, any law that would stiffen penalities for teenagers who don’t wear their seatbelts will save lives. Too often I have sat here in my office with parents who have either lost a child or had one seriously injured because they weren’t wearing their seatbelts at the time of a car wreck. Parents often tell me they insist on their children wearing seatbelts while riding with them, but it is a different story when those same teenagers are in a car with their friends. Their parents’ rules of wearing seatbelts are quick to fly out the window.

And it has been proven in recent medical studies that teenagers simply don’t have the brain development necessary to be able to make good judgment calls, such as always wearing seat belts. These new studies show teenagers are more likely to demonstrate impulsive behavior rather than sound judgments because the frontal lobes of their brains, that area where high thinking or executive functioning takes place, is not fully functional during teenage years. Teens simply don’t have the appropriate level of brain functioning to make good judgmental decisions such as always wearing their seatbelts.

Car Accident Victims Really Are In Pain

March 19, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

wrecked%20car.jpg Finally, scientific proof that car accident victims aren’t crazy, they really are in pain. If only their doctors would listen to them and take them seriously when they say, even a full year after the car wreck, they are still in pain. A recent study published on Monday in the medical journal Archives of Surgery showed a year after the injury, 63 percent of car wreck victims reported that they still experienced pain related to the injury, with most having pain in more than one region of the body. On average, the patients assessed their pain at 5.5 on a 10-point scale — a level at which they would be expected to have moderate to severe interference with daily activities. The overall conclusion of the study: physicians need to offer better treatment for their patients.

As a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney here in Atlanta, Georgia, whose practice consists largely of helping people who have been severely injured in car wrecks or trucking wrecks, I have heard this from my clients consistently over the last twenty years. Yet, they often can’t seem to get the right treatment from their doctors, or even appropriate referrals to other physicians who might be able to help with alternative treatments. I have always suspected the physicians, strapped for time due to health insurers’ controlling their practices, just aren’t listening to their patients’ complaints. This study seems to confirm exactly what I have thought, and validates the complaints of many of my clients. Doctors simply need to do a better job listening to their patients.

The physician who led the study admitted as much. “I was surprised that the pain was as common and as severe as they reported it to be,” said Dr. Frederick Rivara of the University of Washington in Seattle, who led the study. “The implications are that we need to do a much better job of identifying pain in these patients, treating it adequately and treating it early,” Rivara added in a telephone interview.

Weak Roofs on SUV’s Kill SUV Passengers

March 17, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

Plaintiffs personal injury lawyers across the nation are resisting the urge to say “I told you so” after the recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) confirms what we have been saying all along: if SUV manufacturers would simply make the roofs of SUV’s stronger, it would save lives. The study concludes that more than 200 deaths could have been prevented in rollovers in 2006 if just a few more SUVs had roofs as strong as the best one it tested, and, of course, it follows that thousands of serious personal injuries, likewise, could have been prevented.
The IIHS study is extremely important because it proves what plaintiffs’ lawyers have been saying all along; that inadequate roof strength can be the cause of death of an occupant in an SUV during a rollover. That an SUV will, in fact, experience a rollover is a given, and manufacturers are supposed to design and plan for that occurrence. The study is also important because it exposes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for what it is, a co-conspirator with automobile manufacturers to require only the most minimal of “standards,” (if they can even be called that) so that automobile manufacturers can continue to make hundred of millions of dollars on the backs of American citizens without reasonable attention to safety. Automobile manufacturers for years have defended against such cases by claiming to have complied with the NHTSA “standards,” but this study shows such compliance is mere window dressing, and really meaningless when it comes to actual occupant safety. Much research has been done that shows for less than $100.00 per car a manufacturer could double the strength of the roof regarding strength to weight ratio. It is unfortunate that American car companies care more about their bottom line than their customers’ safety.

Georgia Landowners Should Remain Responsible for Their Premises

March 10, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

The Georgia General Assembly remains in session today, and with every day, some other Georgia citizen’s rights are limited or even eliminated by that body. The latest example is the attempt by the Georgia Senate to extinguish a landowner’s liabilty when that landowner operates, for profit, a business that could loosely be described as agricultural in nature. This would include lucrative dove and quail hunting plantations, as well as the pick-your-own strawberry and pumpkin patches that many of our school age children go to on school sponsored field trips. The Georgia Trial Lawyers Association has consistently opposed giving immunity to the landowner in that scenario, especially where the landowner has advertised to get you to come onto their land and then has charged you a fee for being there. I think any normal Georgia citizen would believe and expect that landowner to make sure his premises were safe for his customers in that setting. But the current bill, passed by the Georgia Senate last week, would allow that landowner to get off scott free from any responsibility for injuries his property, if not kept in good repair, may cause a paying business visitor.

The editorial board of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution has published an opinion against the bill in today’s paper and I have copied it for you below. The bill now goes to the Georgia House to be voted on. Georgia citizens should call their respective State Representatives and ask they vote “no” on the so-called Agritourism Bill, Senate Bill 449. It is a cop-out for wealthy landowners and leaves ordinary Georgia citizens, like you and me, and our precious children, to hang out to dry. Whatever happened to taking responsibility for your actions? Under this bill, landowners could take your money and never worry about whether you’re safe on their property. Outrageous.

OUR OPINIONS: No immunity for agritourism

Health Insurance Carrier Caught Red-Handed

February 25, 2008 | Robin Frazer Clark

Congratulations to Patsy Bates of Los Angeles, California, who just was awarded a $9 Million arbitration award by an arbitration panel against HealthNet, her health insurance carrier, for it’s illegal cancellation of her coverage at the beginning of her treatment for breast cancer. The award came a day after the Los Angeles city attorney sued Health Net, claiming it illegally canceled the coverage of about 1,600 patients. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo also said the company illegally ran an incentive program in which it paid bonuses to an administrator for meeting targets of policy cancelations. Health Net acknowledged that such a program existed in 2002 and 2003 but was subsequently scrapped.

This is a clear example of the callousness, and sometimes outright illegality, of the way in which insurance carriers attempt to avoid payment of legitimate insurace claims. Only this time, HealthNet got caught. This was an unusual situation because, apparently, there was an arbitration clause in the health insurance policy that allowed for pain and suffering damages. Most issues regarding payment of claims by a health insurance carrier are preempted by ERISA, and the injured policyholder is unable to sue in court to assert his or her rights under the policy.

Can we presume insurance carriers right here in Georgia are doing the same thing, i.e., cancelling a policy to avoid paying out on a legitimate claim? Yes, probably, they are. The little guy who is injured must continue fight the denial decision, and often at a time in that person’s life when he or she needs to be focusing on another fight, like one against breast cancer, as Ms. Bates did. Fortunately, we have Georgia trial lawyers, like me, ready to take on that fight!