CopyCited 46 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Sep 4, 1985 | 254 Ga. 728
...Handley, Gary Hill, Hurt, Richardson, Garner, Todd & Cadenhead, J. Robert Persons, for Worthy. HILL, Chief Justice. We granted certiorari in this medical malpractice case to determine whether the trial court erred in finding the defendants negligent per se based on OCGA §
43-26-9 (b)....
...nesthesia under the supervision of a physician's assistant, and failure to properly oxygenate the patient during the administration of anesthesia. The plaintiffs moved for partial summary judgment on the issue of negligence per se for violating OCGA §
43-26-9 (b), and certain of the defendants made motions for summary judgment....
...gists, holding that all of these defendants had breached their statutory duty in allowing an uncertified student nurse anesthetist to administer anesthesia while not "under the direction and responsibility" of an anesthesiologist as required by OCGA §
43-26-9 (b), supra....
...ich contracted with CAA to operate the school of anesthesia to which it lent its name, facilities, funding and services, and which contemplated use of student anesthetists, had also violated its legal duty by knowingly permitting CAA to violate OCGA §
43-26-9, supra....
...On certiorari, Dr. Moorehead contends that as a matter of law he met all of his responsibilities and that his motion for summary judgment should have been granted, but we did not grant certiorari on this point and decline to reach it now. [1] 1. OCGA §
43-26-9 (b) provides: "In any case where it is lawful for a duly licensed physician practicing medicine under the laws of this state to administer anesthesia, such anesthesia may also lawfully be administered by a certified registered nurse anesth...
...esthetist (CRNA). Moreover, each of the available anesthesiologists has denied that nurse Castro was administering anesthesia under his direction and responsibility. Thus, we find, as did the trial court and the Court of Appeals, a violation of OCGA §
43-26-9 (b) as a matter of law. We therefore adopt the reasoning of the Court of Appeals in holding that the trial court properly granted partial summary judgment against CAA, the 3 CAA defendant doctors, nurse Castro and physician's assistant Krencik, for having violated OCGA §
43-26-9 (b)....
...which the physician's assistant is qualified to perform. " (Emphasis supplied.) CAA argues that supervision of student nurse anesthetists is one of the functions properly delegated to a physician's assistant trained in anesthesia. We disagree. OCGA §
43-26-9 (b), supra, requires that a certified registered nurse anesthetist must be under the "direction and responsibility of a duly licensed physician....
...the elevator from the second floor to the seventh floor operating room where Mrs. Worthy was being treated. Thus, the Court of Appeals did not err by failing to take specific cognizance of the foregoing rule or laws. 2. The defendants urge that OCGA §
43-26-9 (b), supra, is a licensing statute which does not establish a standard of conduct constituting ordinary care, and hence its violation cannot constitute negligence per se....
...d whether such treatment was the proximate cause of the patient's death. Defendants urge that if nurse Castro had held herself out as an anesthesiologist when in fact she had no such license, Andrews would be directly in point. We disagree that OCGA §
43-26-9 (b) is simply a licensing statute, and that it does not establish a standard of conduct, and we therefore find Andrews to be inapposite. Although OCGA §
43-26-9 (b) does not establish a standard of conduct as to what anesthesia plan shall be used under which conditions, it nevertheless establishes a standard of conduct constituting ordinary care, and hence it is unlike the licensing requirement at issue in Andrews. [2] The standard of conduct established by OCGA §
43-26-9 (b) is that anesthesia may not lawfully be administered by a certified registered nurse anesthetist except under the direction and responsibility of a duly licensed physician with training and experience in anesthesia....
...'s premises. We read it as holding, however, that a hospital has a duty to its patients not to lead them to believe that anesthesia will be administered under the direct supervision of an anesthesiologist and then knowingly permit violations of OCGA §
43-26-9 (b), supra, by an anesthesiology school operated on its premises by an anesthesiology group to which the hospital has entrusted its anesthesiology services....
CopyCited 9 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | May 1, 2000 | 272 Ga. 404, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 1618
...physicians or other medical personnel who may be involved in the course of my treatment." [2] Central Anesthesia Assoc. v. Worthy,
254 Ga. 728(1),
333 S.E.2d 829 (1985), relied upon by Gillis, does not change this result. That opinion involved OCGA §
43-26-9(b), which allows the administering of anesthesia by a certified registered nurse anesthetist acting under the direction and responsibility of an anesthesiologist, and did not address the authority of a PA to perform a medical task while under the direct supervision and in the presence of the utilizing physician....
