Southeastern Pain Specialists, P.c. v. Brown Doherty v. Brown Southeastern Pain Ambulatory Surgery Center, LLC v. Brown

Summary

The court held that the trial court improperly instructed the jury on ordinary negligence because determining how to respond to abnormal readings from medical monitoring devices during a complex medical procedure required medical judgment and therefore implicated professional malpractice. Because the jury returned a general verdict and may have relied on the erroneous theory, the error was harmful and required a new trial. The court ordered a full retrial of all three trial phases as to the appellants, while leaving the favorable judgment for Hardwick undisturbed.