At around 4:20 p.m. on October 26, 2015, 32-year-old Jonathan Buckelew arrived by ambulance to the emergency department of North Fulton Hospital after he experienced seizure-like activity and became unresponsive during a chiropractic neck adjustment. Although the hospital was a primary stroke center, Buckelew’s brainstem stroke was not diagnosed until the following day, after the window of opportunity for a mechanical thrombectomy had passed. As a result of this delay in treatment, Buckelew has locked-in syndrome, requiring constant care. Buckelew sued the chiropractor, the hospital (North Fulton Medical Center doing business as North Fulton Hospital, “NFMC”), the emergency department physician (Dr. Matthew Womack), the radiologist, the ICU doctor, the ICU physician assistant (PA Christopher Nickum), the on-call neurologist, and related entities. The Georgia medical malpractice jury awarded Buckelew $9 million in past medical expenses, $20 million in future medical expenses, and $46 million for past and future pain and suffering. The jury apportioned 60 percent of the fault to Dr. Womack and 40 percent to the radiologist. The parties appealed.
The Court of Appeals of Georgia affirmed the $75 million jury verdict in its opinion dated March 10, 2025, stating: “Dr. Lutz opined with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that Dr. Womack grossly departed from the standard of care by failing to inform Dr. Futrell that Buckelew had been to a chiropractor earlier that day and that he (Womack) had ordered a CT angiogram looking for and possibly showing dissection; by not requesting that Dr. Futrell come to the hospital during this conversation and not calling Dr. Futrell back after Dr. Womack witnessed the second seizure-like event; and in failing to accurately document Buckelew’s symptoms in the medical records. Given this testimony, the jury would have been authorized to find by clear and convincing evidence that Dr. Womack acted with gross negligence.”
“And there is no dispute that the treatment Dr.Nogueira identified (TPA and mechanical thrombectomy) were the same treatments that Dr. Futrell (the neurologist on call) and Dr. Drexinger (the neurologist who saw Buckelew the next morning) would have ordered had the stroke been diagnosed in time. Buckelew thus provided some evidence showing that, if Dr. Womack had abided by the standard of care, Buckelew would have received treatment and, more likely than not, would have “been essentially fully independent.” Because there was also evidence that Womack was grossly negligent, as discussed above, the trial court did not err in denying his motion for directed verdict.”
“The trial court did not abuse its discretion by allowing Buckelew to ask Dr. Delaney questions about the statements made on his podcast. “While a witness may not be impeached because of a discrepancy as to a wholly immaterial matter, a witness may be impeached on a collateral issue which is indirectly material to the issue in the case.” Here, the trial court accepted Buckelew’s argument that the prior podcast statements were inconsistent with the statements Dr. Delaney made on the stand and rejected Womack’s argument that it was unduly prejudicial to use the podcast to cross-examine Dr. Delaney. Given that the prior statement was contradictory and that Delaney was provided an opportunity to explain his statement on redirect, Womack has failed to show abuse of discretion.”
Source Buckelew v. Womack, A24A1463, A24A1642.
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