What relevance does a clinician's history of substance abuse have in a malpractice case? None, if there's no evidence that he was impaired at the time the alleged malpractice occurred, a Georgia appeals court has ruled, overturning a lower court's judgment in favor of a patient who sued her alcoholic surgeon.
No one, not Meadows Regional Medical Center nor the surgeon himself, denies that Michael Williams, MD, has a drinking problem. The question is, was he under the influence of alcohol when he improperly placed surgical clips in Gloria Booker's abdomen during a laparoscopic cholecystectomy in March 2001, as she alleges in a 2003 malpractice suit against the surgeon and hospital?
According to court documents, Dr. Williams sought inpatient and outpatient treatment for alcohol addiction in the late 1990s, a fact both the hospital and the Composite State Board of Medical Examiners was aware of during his treatment and 2 years of subsequent sobriety.
What the hospital didn't know for nearly a year in late 2000 and early 2001 was that Dr. Williams had relapsed and starting drinking again "at the rate of approximately one pint of vodka two to three times per week," the surgeon deposed. He admitted his relapse when it showed up on a urine test in mid-June 2001, and a few weeks later returned to inpatient treatment for his addiction, completing outpatient therapy in February 2002, according to court documents.
In his depositions, Dr. Williams contended that he drank mostly on weekends, when he wasn't on call and didn't have any patient care responsibilities. In their testimony, hospital administrators, nurses and staff all said Dr. Williams did not appear to be under the influence or otherwise visibly impaired in March and April of 2001, when Ms. Booker had her surgery and treatment for a post-operative bile duct occlusion allegedly caused by the improperly placed surgical clips.
Ms. Booker sued Dr. Williams for violating the standard of care in placing the surgical clips, and further alleged that his alcoholism played a role in the injury, impairing his ability to perform surgery on her. She also sued the hospital for failing to disclose the surgeon's alcoholism.
A trial court denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment on the alcoholism-related allegations. But last week, the Court of Appeals of Georgia reversed that decision, finding that there was insufficient evidence to suggest that Dr. Williams was impaired by alcohol abuse during his care of the plaintiff, and that information of his alcoholism would potentially prejudice the jury against him in the case.
The court further ruled that there is no existing standard requiring hospitals to inform patients of a physician's history of alcohol abuse or dependence, and that there is no evidence the hospital was aware of Dr. Williams' relapse at the time of Ms. Booker's surgery.
Irene Tsikitas
