Georgia Appellate Court Revives Failure To Diagnose Lupus Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Case

The Court of Appeals of Georgia (“Georgia Appellate Court”), in its May 19, 2022 opinion, revived a medical malpractice case alleging that the failure to diagnose lupus in a young patient led to her death, stating: “Having reviewed the allegations of the complaint, Dr. Putterman’s affidavits, and the trial court’s conclusions with regard to whether Dr. Putterman’s affidavit could be used to satisfy the requirements of OCGA § 9-11-9.1, we conclude that it abused is discretion by concluding the affidavit was insufficient and granting defendants’ motion to dismiss. Dr. Putterman was not required to practice as a psychiatrist or have specialized knowledge of the standard of care of psychiatrists to satisfy the requirements of OCGA§ 9-11-9.1 and OCGA § 24-2-702 (c)(2) (C).”

The Underlying Facts

The parents’ complaint alleged that their 18-year-old daughter, Elianna Russell, died from complications from lupus on June 25, 2019. With regard to Dr. Kantamneni’s alleged negligence, the complaint asserted that Elianna came under his care during a hospital admission that began on December 15, 2018, and that his negligence caused injury resulting in her death as outlined in the affidavit of Dr. Putterman attached to the complaint. Dr. Putterman opined that Dr. Kantamneni “deviated from the requisite standard of care by not recognizing and ensuring timely treatment of Elianna Russell for [l]upus in view of the available information, to include, but not limited to, her age, gender, race, family history, episodes of psychosis, pantocytopenia and abnormal ANA and anti-dsDNA laboratory findings.” Dr. Putterman is an internal medicine doctor with a specialty in rheumatology.

With regard to Elianna’s treatment, Dr. Putterman stated that Elianna was sent to the hospital from a behavioral health center to determine if her psychosis was the result of physiological causes rather than being purely psychiatric in nature; that Dr. Kantamneni began evaluation and treatment of Elianna five days after her admission (December 20, 2018) and four days before she was discharged; that a nurse practitioner “apparently [ ] associated” with Dr. Kantamneni charted on December 22, 2018, that Elianna’s father described a family history of lupus and suggested that Elianna be evaluated for lupus; that Dr. Kantamneni reviewed this entry on December 27, 2018, three days after Elianna was discharged from the hospital; that Elianna was correctly diagnosed with pantocyptopenia after her admission and her ANA was elevated on December 24, 2018, and her anti-dsDNA was abnormally elevated on December 25, 2018; that no doctor responded to these abnormal test results, including Dr. Kantamneni; and that Dr. Kantamneni never charted a potential for lupus or referred Elianna for an evaluation for lupus.

According to Dr. Putterman, Elianna’s “psychosis symptoms subsided with time,” but returned in June 2019. Following a second hospitalization in a different facility, she was immediately started on a treatment for lupus, but she died of “organ failure from [l]upus” as a result of Dr. Kantamneni’s failure “to ensure timely treatment and follow[-]up.”

The Ohio Appellate Court reversed the trial court.

Source Russell v. Kantamneni, A22A0378.

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