In April 2019, Dinesha Robinson was nearly five months’ pregnant with twins. Her pregnancy was high-risk, due to a prior miscarriage and preeclampsia, and she had been treated twice in the previous three weeks for a urinary tract infection (“UTI”) by United Obstetrics and Gynecology (“UOG”), which was operating as The Howard Center.
On the afternoon of April 3, 2019, Robinson presented herself at the emergency room of Tift Regional Hospital with lower abdominal pain around her bladder and an elevated heart rate — signs of infection. UOG’s on-call obstetrician hospitalist suspected a UTI and ordered a series of tests to confirm or rule out the diagnosis. Around7:00 p.m., Robinson’s care was taken over by Dr. Chiera, another on-call obstetrician with UOG. During the “hand-off” of care, the on-call physician informed Dr.Chiera about Robinson’s high-risk pregnancy and the UTI tests, the results which had not yet been returned. Robinson’s test results came back that evening indicating an elevated white blood cell count and the presence of bacteria and red and white blood cells in her urine — signs of infection. Dr.Chiera received the lab results, but without examining or speaking to Robinson, discharged her without treatment shortly after 9:00 p.m.
The following day, Robinson began experiencing chills, persistent back pain, and a fever. She returned to the hospital, but by that point, the infection had spread to her uterus, where it caused a uterine infection and/or chorioamnionitis—intra-amniotic infection and inflammation. Dr.Chiera informed Robinson that her life was at risk and that the twins needed to be delivered immediately. Robinson’s son was delivered stillborn, and her daughter died shortly after she was born. Robinson and Tumbling sued UOG, The Howard Center, and Dr.Chiera for the twins’ wrongful deaths.
At trial, expert testimony established that Dr.Chiera violated the standard of care by discharging Robinson on April 3, and that if she had been treated with antibiotics, the infection likely would not have spread and the twins would have survived. The jury found the defendants liable and awarded the plaintiffs $10,500,000 in damages — $5.25 million per child. The defendants filed a motion for a new trial, as amended, which was denied. The defendants then appealed, arguing that the trial court erred by instructing the jury on aggravation of a preexisting condition and by refusing to declare a mistrial regarding plaintiffs’ counsel’s questioning during voir dire, and that the jury’s damages award was excess.
The Court of Appeals of Georgia stated in its July 1, 2025 decision: “we conclude that any potential confusion about whether the aggravation charge authorized the jury to award damages for aggravation of Robinson’s condition was cured by the trial court’s direct and unequivocal responses to the jury’s questions, in particular, its clarification that the recovery sought was for the twins’ alleged wrongful deaths; its confirmation that compensation for an injury resulting in an aggravation of a preexisting condition was outside the scope of the damages award; and its reference to the verdict form, which provided separate line items for “the Value of the Life of” each child … Thus, considering the jury instructions and verdict form as a whole, the charge was unlikely to confuse the jury.”
Voir Dire Issue
During voir dire, the plaintiffs’ attorney told the potential jurors: “[W]e’re going to ask you to award damages for the death of the two children, … and we’re going to ask you to award two million dollars each for those deaths. Does anybody feel like, oh, that’s just too much money, I couldn’t award that much money without hearing any of the evidence — that they . . . wouldn’t be able to do that?”
The Georgia appellate court concluded that the question was a permissible exploration of potential bias against substantial awards, rather than an improper request to prejudge the case. “The questions did not ask the jurors to agree that hypothetical evidence would support a $4 million award. Rather, the questions probed the jurors’ capacity to award that amount, thereby testing whether they held personal, arbitrary ceilings on damages that would prevent them from fulfilling their duties as juror.”
Nonetheless, the Georgia appellate court vacated the trial court’s ruling on the issue of whether OCGA§ 51-13-1’s caps can be constitutionally applied to statutory wrongful death claims and “full value of the life” damages, and remanded for further proceedings.
Source United Obstetrics and Gynecology, P.C. v. Robinson, A25A0543.
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