Ga. High Court Allows Case Against Atrium Health Floyd To Continue

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that pandemic measures, which suspended court filing deadlines, do not bar a case against Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center from moving forward.

The lawsuit filed by Jami Lynn Golden alleges that protocol at the hospital for sepsis infection was ignored by staff when she went for treatment in July 2016, leading to a significant sepsis infection.

That infection was later treated at another hospital. However, it required hospitalization for a significant period of time and partial amputation of Golden’s fingers and toes.

She originally filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in 2018 but was voluntarily removed from that venue and refiled in Floyd County Superior Court in October 2021.

Attorneys for Atrium argue that Golden failed to file the lawsuit in Superior Court within the five year deadline outlined by the statute of repose.

At issue was the definition of the statute of repose — essentially a cut off point for filing a lawsuit — and whether an emergency order issued by the Georgia Supreme Court extended that deadline.

Floyd County Superior Court Judge Kay Ann King ruled in May 2022 that the lawsuit, alongside the emergency provisions enacted by the high court, was filed in a timely manner and would be allowed to proceed.

In that same order, Judge King also noted that additional allegations were included that hadn’t been included in an original filing in U.S. District Court and those would not be allowed to go forward.

Atrium appealed the ruling and the appellate court reversed Judge King’s decision, stating that the medical malpractice lawsuit should not go forward.

On Tuesday, the high court concluded that because the judicial emergency order was entered in March 2020, prior to July 2021 when the five-year statute of repose would have expired, the deadline extension did not deprive Atrium of any of its rights.

“(Georgia law) provides that ‘deadlines’ can be tolled, and a statute of repose is plainly a ‘deadline,’” Justice Carla Wong McMillian wrote. “And, while (Georgia code) does not specifically mention a repose statute as a deadline that can be tolled, (the law) makes clear that the list of ‘deadlines’ it authorizes to be tolled is non-exhaustive, by introducing that list with the language ‘including, but not limited to.’”