Ian Hall and Morgan Thomas, a married couple, brought claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress against Thomas’s treating physician based on her use of allegedly extreme and outrageous terminology when consulting with them following the delivery of their stillborn baby. They appealed from the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the physician, Denise Umpierrez-Morley, M.D., and her practice, Atlanta Women’s Healthcare Specialists, LLC d/b/a Atlanta Obstetrics and Gynecology Associates (collectively, “Dr. Umpierrez”).
Morgan Thomas was five months pregnant when her obstetrician determined she was having complications and needed to go to the hospital. While there, the plaintiffs were told that the pregnancy was no longer viable and, after consulting with Dr. Umpierrez, they decided to induce labor. The plaintiffs told her and the staff repeatedly that they did not want to see the stillborn child, and they asked for a partition to obscure their view of the delivery.
Dr.Umpierrez administered Xanax to Thomas because she was distraught, and draped the lower portion of Thomas’s body with a towel prior to the delivery. Because the baby was breech, and due to his size and fragility, the baby’s head was severed at the neck during the delivery. Neither plaintiff saw the body of their child during or following the delivery.
When Dr. Umpierrez met with the plaintiffs soon after the delivery, she told them that the baby had been “decapitated,” and “his head came out in two pieces” during delivery. As a result of this description, both Hall and Thomas suffered emotional distress, including nightmares and anxiety attacks, and both required treatment from a therapist and a psychiatrist, and the administration of psychotropic drugs. Additionally, Thomas was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress
Georgia has long recognized a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress. However, the burden which the plaintiff must meet in order to prevail in this cause of action is a stringent one. To prevail, a plaintiff must demonstrate that: (1) the conduct giving rise to the claim was intentional or reckless; (2) the conduct was extreme and outrageous; (3) the conduct caused emotional distress; and (4) the emotional distress was severe. The defendant’s conduct must be so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community. Whether a claim rises to the requisite level of outrageousness and egregiousness to sustain a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress is a question of law.
It has not been enough that the defendant has acted with an intent which is tortious or even criminal, or that he has intended to inflict emotional distress, or even that his conduct has been characterized by malice, or a degree of aggravation that would entitle the plaintiff to punitive damages for another tort. Generally, the case is one which the recitation of the facts to an average member of the community would arouse his resentment against the actor, and lead him to exclaim, “Outrageous!”
In determining whether conduct rises to the requisite level of outrageousness and egregiousness, a trial court may consider the existence of a relationship in which one person has control over another; the actor’s awareness of the victim’s particular susceptibility; and the severity of the resultant harm. Some claims have been found not to meet the threshold of outrageousness and egregiousness as a matter of law. Other cases in which reasonable persons could differ must be decided by a jury.
The Court of Appeals of Georgia stated in the case it was deciding: “We agree that Dr. Umpierrez was or should have been aware of their particular susceptibility to emotional distress given these circumstances … Nevertheless, we conclude Dr. Umpierrez’s choice of words in describing the delivery to Appellants, even when we acknowledge their particular susceptibility, does not rise to the requisite level of extreme and outrageous conduct as a matter of law … the record simply does not support Appellants’ claim that Dr. Umpierrez’s description of the delivery amounted to extreme and outrageous behavior, even considering the special relationship between a physician and her patient.”
Source Hall v. Umpierrez-Morley, A25A1484.
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