On June 16, 2014, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the Georgia Court of Appeals decision to reverse the trial court’s granting of summary judgement in a case whereby the trail court held that the statutory period of limitation was not tolled after the Plaintiff consulted a second dentist in a potential Dental Malpractice Case. The case is S13G1733. GALLANT, et al. v. MacDOWELL .
The Plaintiff, Ursula MacDowell, was to undergo services necessary for a full mouth prosthodontic reconstruction that would involve a dentist, Dr. Winston, to extract teeth and place implants into the Plaintiff’s jaw that another dentist, Dr. Gallant, would use to install the dental prostheses.
In August, 2006, after the first of many implant procedures, Dr. Gallant determined that the implants were not properly placed which would make the prostheses installation difficult. Dr. Gallant consulted with another dentist, Dr. Hal Arnold, who confirmed Dr. Gallant’s observations.
Dr. Gallant, instead of informing the Plaintiff of his opinion or discussing options of treatment with her, instead decided to use his own judgement and work around the obstacles created by the improperly placed implants and moved forward with the installation of the prostheses.
The prostheses were installed by Dr. Gallant over a period of time whereby the Plaintiff continued to make numerous complaints about the fit and comfort, and Dr. Gallant made many adjustments accordingly. Dr. Gallant referred the Plaintiff back to Dr. Winston, who originally placed the implants, who then informed the Plaintiff that the process was taking far too long and the reconstruction was too narrow which was causing the problems she was having with the reconstruction.
Regardless of the Plaintiff’s complaints, Dr. Gallant continued to make adjustments and, as a result, in January, 2008, the Plaintiff again saw Dr. Winston whereby at that time Dr. Winston again expressed her opinion that the prostheses were not properly placed. Dr. Gallant finally referred the Plaintiff to another dentist, Dr. Arnold, for a second option.
The analysis of this case and the Georgia Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court’s final decisions will be discussed in the next blog post titled, “The Georgia Supreme Court rules that the Statute of Limitations was Tolled when a Dental patient Seeking the advice of a Second Dentist who was a part of the original treatment, and/or performed part of the original treatment, may have begun to realize that the First Dentist(s) committed Dental Malpractice ~ part two.”
At Julie A. Rice, Attorney at Law, & Affiliates, we are experts in both Dental and Medical Malpractice cases and we understand the law in these case so if you or a loved one have been injured or killed by the negligence of a dentist, doctor, or other medical professional, then please Contact Us for your free legal consultation.
We are here to make sure that you receive all of the just compensation that you deserve, and, as is noted in the case at issue here, there are strict time limitations to these cases so it very important that you contact as soon as possible. We look forward to hearing from you soon!