Word v. Henderson

140 S.E.2d 92, 110 Ga. App. 780, 1964 Ga. App. LEXIS 763
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 20, 1964
Docket40747
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 140 S.E.2d 92 (Word v. Henderson) 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
Word v. Henderson, 140 S.E.2d 92, 110 Ga. App. 780, 1964 Ga. App. LEXIS 763 (Ga. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinions

[782]*782Eberhardt, Judge.

1. The plaintiff charged in her petition that the defendant hospital was negligent in giving her child a lethal dose of Demerol and in not giving the child a proper dose of Demerol. Clara Jenkins, the nurse who administered the alleged improper dose of Demerol, stated in her affidavit filed in behalf of the defendant hospital’s motion for summary judgment that she gave the decedent 25 milligrams of Demerol in accordance with the physician’s instructions. The uncontradicted evidence disclosed that this was a proper dosage for a child of the decedent’s age. In a deposition taken by the plaintiff, Nurse Jenkins stated that the shot contained % cubic centimeter of Demerol solution. Plaintiff testified, however, that she observed the shot being administered to her son and that the fluid column of the shot given to him was at the 2 cubic centimeter position on the hypodermic syringe. Under the evidence a finding was authorized that 2 cubic centimeters of the Demerol solution would contain at least 100 milligrams of Demerol, an admittedly dangerous dosage for a child of the decedent’s age.

Clearly, there was a conflict in the record as to the volume of Demerol solution administered to the plaintiff’s child, and in view of Dr. Coker’s testimony that 100 milligrams of Demerol could produce death, it cannot be said that the conflict was not material. The question of whether the defendant hospital actually gave an improper dosage of Demerol to the decedent, whether that was negligence, and if so, whether the negligence proximately caused the child’s death were likewise questions to be resolved by the jury. The fact that no Demerol was found in the tissues of the decedent, which were subjected to chemical analyses by officials of the State Crime Laboratory, was strong evidence that the child had not been given an overdose in view of the testimony of Dr. Matthews, who stated that in his opinion if the child had been given an overdose of Demerol, deposits would have been found upon analysis. It was for the jury to weigh and consider this evidence, however.

Counsel for the defendant hospital contend that even if the evidence authorized the finding that the plaintiff’s decedent was given an improper dosage of Demerol, there was no evidence that it proximately caused the death. This contention is with[783]*783out merit, since under the testimony of Dr. Coker the jury would be authorized to find that the overdose of Demerol proximately caused or contributed to the death of the plaintiff’s child.

2. It was incumbent upon the plaintiff, in order to withstand Dr. Henderson’s motion for summary judgment, to produce evidence by other physicians from which a jury could find the want of due skill or diligence on the part of this defendant. Hollis v. St. Joseph Infirmary, 108 Ga. App. 309 (132 SE2d 841). This is true for the reason that in an action against a physician or surgeon for malpractice the presumption is that the medical or surgical services were performed in an ordinarily skillful manner, and the burden is on the plaintiff to show a want of due care, skill or diligence. Shea v. Phillips, 213 Ga. 269, 271 (98 SE2d 552). “The proper standard of measurement for a jury to apply to the acts of a doctor to determine whether he exercised a reasonable degree of care and skill must be established by testimony of physicians, for it is a medical question.” Hayes v. Brown, 108 Ga. App. 360 (1b) (133 SE2d 102); Mayo v. McClung, 83 Ga. App. 548, 556 (2) (64 SE2d 330); Code § 84-924.

The plaintiff assumed this burden by producing the affidavit of Dr. Grady Coker in which the affiant concluded upon the basis of hypotheses supported by evidence in the record that the plaintiff’s child was suffering from post-operative shock at 10 a.m. on the morning of the operation (the time when the child was last seen by the defendant physician); that tests should have been made to determine whether the condition was one of post-operative shock and that the child should have been closely watched and checked to determine the course of the condition; that the child’s condition was serious enough to warrant the care of a doctor at the time; that post-operative shock, if allowed to continue, could produce death, and that a 100 milligram dose of Demerol is grossly excessive for a child of his age and one which might produce death.

Let us examine the evidence to see whether there be any proof of negligence on the doctor’s part that would give rise to a cause of action. Dr. Henderson performed the operation. There is no contention and no evidence of any negligence on his part in [784]*784connection with its performance. The only contention is the assertion that he failed to make tests or to give further attention to the child after he saw it at about 10 a.m., the basis being that there were circumstances existing which he should have observed at that time indicating that the child might have been suffering from post-operative shock and these should have led him to the making of further tests and the giving of further attention.

If there was proof of this it is to be found only in the affidavit of Dr. Grady Coker, in which he asserted: “In reaching the conclusions hereinafter stated and deposed in this affidavit, I am assuming the following fact to be true: ... 4. (a) That Nathan Stephen Word was a colored male child of the age of 3 years four and one-half months old [sic] when he entered Kennestone Hospital, Marietta, Georgia, on September 18, 1961. I am assuming that said child at said time and place was healthy; (b) That said child was operated on at 8 a.m. on September 19, 1961, by Dr. Charles Henderson for tonsillectomy and circumcision and that said operation lasted approximately one (1) hour in duration [sic] and that said child was placed in the recovery room at approximately 9 a.m. that morning and was returned to his hospital room at approximately 10 a.m. of that morning, (c) That said child was administered a dose of Demerol in the approximate range of 100 MGM at 10:25 a.m. of that morning and that at approximately 12 noon of that morning said child died.” (Then follows a cataloging from 7:35 a.m. until 10 a.m. of fluctuations in the child’s pulse rate from a low of 78 to a high of 136 and his respiratory rate from a low of 18 to a high of 28 per minute), “(m) That no doctor examined said child from 10 a.m. until the time of his death at approximately 12 noon; (n) that said child received no treatment, other than said shot of Demerol and a vaporizer, which was brought into his room; (o) That prior to his death and some time after 11 a.m. on September 19, 1961, said child began to turn a light or ashen color; (p) That the clinical diagnosis of the cause of said child’s death stated that the cause was unknown and that no anatomical explanation for death was found on gross and microscopic examination.

[785]*785“5. It is my opinion, based on the above and foregoing hypotheses as set forth in Paragraph Four (4) and its subparagraphs, that said child was suffering from post-operative shock at 10 a.m. on September 19, 1961, and that other tests should have been made to determine whether the condition was one of post-operative shock and that he should have been closely watched and checked to determine the course of such condition.

“6. It is my further opinion that such condition is serious enough to warrant the care of a doctor until it be determined that the danger aspects of the shock condition had passed.

“7.

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Bluebook (online)
140 S.E.2d 92, 110 Ga. App. 780, 1964 Ga. App. LEXIS 763, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/word-v-henderson-gactapp-1964.