JACQUELINE STATHAM v. DAVID S. QUANG

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 29, 2024
DocketA23A1419
StatusPublished

This text of JACQUELINE STATHAM v. DAVID S. QUANG (JACQUELINE STATHAM v. DAVID S. QUANG) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
JACQUELINE STATHAM v. DAVID S. QUANG, (Ga. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

FIFTH DIVISION MCFADDEN, P. J., BROWN and MARKLE, JJ.

NOTICE: Motions for reconsideration must be physically received in our clerk’s office within ten days of the date of decision to be deemed timely filed. https://www.gaappeals.us/rules

February 29, 2024

In the Court of Appeals of Georgia A23A1419. STATHAM v. QUANG et al.

MARKLE, Judge.

After Jacqueline Statham was injured following a routine gynecological surgery,

she filed suit against her surgeons, David S. Quang and Tan-Loc Nguyen, and their

employer, Women’s Healthcare, Inc. of Middle Georgia, P. C. (“Women’s

Healthcare,” collectively “defendants”), for medical negligence due to their failure

to properly supervise a medical student who assisted in the procedure. The parties

filed cross motions for partial summary judgment, regarding whether defendants were

vicariously liable for the student’s alleged medical negligence. The trial court found

that defendants were not vicariously liable as a matter of law for the acts or omissions

of the medical student, but that questions of fact exist as to the negligence and supervision claim. Statham now appeals, arguing that the trial court erred by finding

defendants were not vicariously liable. After a thorough review of the record, we

affirm.

Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In reviewing a grant or denial of summary judgment, we owe no deference to the trial court’s ruling and we review de novo both the evidence and the trial court’s legal conclusions. Moreover, we construe the evidence and all inferences and conclusions arising therefrom most favorably toward the party opposing the motion. In doing so, we bear in mind that the party opposing summary judgment is not required to produce evidence demanding judgment for it, but is only required to present evidence that raises a genuine issue of material fact.

(Citation omitted.) Adams v. Piedmont Henry Hosp., 365 Ga. App. 257, 258 (878 SE2d

113) (2022).

So viewed, the record shows that, in August 2019, Drs. Quang and Nguyen

performed a total laparoscopic hysterectomy on Statham, with the assistance of a

medical student whom they were responsible for directing and supervising. The

medical student attended Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Inc., a/k/a

PCOM of Georgia (“PCOM”). As part of a clinical training affiliation agreement

2 (“the agreement”), PCOM contracted with the surgeons to provide the student with

supervised medical training through the school’s clerkship program. According to the

agreement, the medical student was not considered an employee or agent of the

surgeons. The student did not receive compensation or employment benefits from the

surgeons, and both the school and the surgeons were mutually vested with the right

to terminate the student’s participation with the doctors. PCOM paid Drs. Quang and

Nguyen to supervise the medical student.

Quang was the primary surgeon and Nguyen was his first assistant, and both

were employees of Women’s Healthcare. During the procedure, the student’s role

was to sit between Statham’s legs and place a sponge stick into Statham’s vagina to

serve as a landmark for the surgeons while performing the procedure and use it to

manipulate the area as the surgeons directed. The surgeons observed the student place

the sponge stick into the vagina, and it appeared to be positioned correctly. At some

point during the procedure, however, the student moved the sponge stick, resulting

in a two centimeter thermal burn in Statham’s rectum. When the surgeons realized

the damage, they attempted to repair it during the surgery, and they prescribed her

antibiotics. Following the surgery, Statham complained of a vaginal odor and

3 discharge. Because of the injury to her rectum, Statham developed a rectovaginal

fistula,1 causing feces to enter her vagina, which required additional surgeries to repair.

Statham sued the surgeons, Women’s Healthcare, and Houston Hospitals, Inc.

d/b/a Houston Medical Center (“HMC”), alleging that they breached the standard

of care by failing to adequately supervise the medical student who assisted in the

procedure. Statham attached an expert affidavit to her complaint, which opined that

the surgeons failed to adequately supervise the medical student’s placement of the

sponge stick; failed to recognize this error and assumed the stick was properly placed;

and they breached the standard of care, resulting in Statham’s rectovaginal fistula.

Statham also sued PCOM and HMC, but the trial court granted both summary

judgment, and Statham does not appeal from these orders.

Statham moved for partial summary judgment against the defendants, asking

the trial court to declare that the surgeons were vicariously liable for the medical

student’s negligence because she was a borrowed servant under their direct

supervision and control at the time of the surgery, and that, by granting summary

1 A fistula is “an abnormal connection between two body parts, such as an organ or blood vessel and another structure. Fistulas are usually the result of an injury or surgery.” https://mountsinai.org/health-library/special-topic/fistula (last visited January 29, 2024). 4 judgment to PCOM, the trial court had established as a matter of law that PCOM had

no control over the student. Defendants also moved for partial summary judgment,

asserting there were no genuine issues of material fact to support that they were

negligent in supervising the student, and they were not vicariously liable because the

student was not an agent, employee, or borrowed servant. Following a hearing, the

trial court granted in part and denied in part defendants’ motion, finding that

defendants were not vicariously liable for any acts or omissions of the medical student,

but that questions of fact remained as to whether the surgeons negligently supervised

her. It also denied Statham’s motion. This appeal followed.2

In her sole enumeration of error, Statham contends the trial court erred by

finding the surgeons were not vicariously liable for the medical student’s negligence

as a matter of law because they could be liable under agency principles or the

borrowed servant doctrine. Statham also contends that, because the trial court has

already determined as a mater of law that PCOM had no control over the student

during the surgery, the surgeons are vicariously liable for the student’s negligence. We

2 Defendants have not filed a cross appeal as to the trial court’s denial of their motion for partial summary judgment on Statham’s failure to supervise claim. Also, defendants did not seek summary judgment on Statham’s claims arising from their own alleged negligence. 5 conclude the trial court properly determined the surgeons were not vicariously liable

as a matter of law, and thus we affirm.

Before reaching the merits of Statham’s argument, we first set forth the relevant

law.

Under vicarious liability, “[e]very person shall be liable for torts committed by . . . his

servant by his command or in the prosecution and within the scope of his business,

whether the same are committed by negligence or voluntarily.” OCGA § 51-2-2; see

also Prodigies Child Care Mgmt. v Cotton, 317 Ga. 371, 376-377 (2) (a) (893 SE2d 640)

(2023).

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