Confidential Settlement for Premises Liability Accident
Confidential Settlement for Motorcycle Wreck
$705,000 Verdict in Commission Dispute Case
Confidential Settlement in Golf Cart Injury
$1.9 Million Recovered in Pay Dispute
Confidential Settlement For Atlanta Chiropractic Malpractice
Confidential Settlement in Commission Pay Dispute
Confidential Settlement In Dental Malpractice Case
$3.25 Million For Alleged Fraud in Sale of Business
$5.5 Million Medical Malpractice Verdict
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Most people seem to know that Georgia is an “at-will” employment state and that an employer can fire you for any reason at all. While this is true, the backdrop to this is that an employer can fire you for any reason at all, so long as that reason is not unlawful. What would constitute and unlawful reason? Well for starters, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”) prohibits discrimination in the workplace based on age, disability, gender, national origin, pregnancy, race or color, retaliation, sexual harassment. While this list is not exhaustive, what is clear is that, even in a state like Georgia which has very little state-law protection for workers, the federal laws prohibit employers from discriminating against workers in the workplace. This prohibition against discrimination applies to all stages of the work process, from hiring, promotions, and firing.

Because Georgia goes out of its way to promote itself as an employer friendly state (mostly to attract businesses), some of the worst discrimination takes place here because employers mistakenly believe that our workers have little protection from this type of abuse. However, this is a mistake that employers who discriminate against their workers make at their own peril because the federal laws that protect all workers are alive and well, in Georgia and in any other state in the United States.

Age discrimination involves treating an applicant or employee less favorably because of his or her age. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) forbids age discrimination against people who are 40 years old or older. Disability discrimination occurs when an employer or other covered entity treats a qualified individual with a disability who is an employee or applicant unfavorably because he or she has a disability. Harassment is unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older, see above), disability or genetic information. Harassment becomes unlawful where 1) enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or 2) the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive. Anti-discrimination laws also prohibit harassment against individuals in retaliation for filing a discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or lawsuit under the EEOC laws; or opposing employment practices that they reasonably believe discriminate against individuals, in violation of these laws. National origin discrimination involves treating workers  unfavorably because they are from a particular country or part of the world, because of ethnicity or accent, or because they appear to be of a certain ethnic background (even if they are not). Pregnancy discrimination involves treating a woman in the workforce unfavorably because of pregnancy, childbirth, or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth. Race discrimination involves treating a worker unfavorably because he or she is of a certain race or because of personal characteristics associated with race (such as hair texture, skin color, or certain facial features). Color discrimination involves treating someone unfavorably because of the color of their skin. The EEO laws prohibit punishing job applicants or employees for asserting their rights to be free from employment discrimination including harassment.  Asserting these rights is called “protected activity,” and it can take many forms. It is unlawful to harass a person because of that person’s sex. Harassment can include “sexual harassment” or unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.

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As a lawyer in Atlanta who has handled many cases involving dog attacks resulting in severe and permanent injuries in Lawrenceville and Gwinnett County, as recently reported, the following scenario is typical:

A Gwinnett resident on a walk after dinner attacked by two dogs and needing immediate surgery. A quick investigation turns up the fact that this attack is not isolated and, in fact, the client is one of three people seriously injured after being attacked by the dogs, who had gotten loose from a home  in Lawrenceville. After the attack, Gwinnett County Animal Welfare captured the dogs and cited their owners. The dogs were euthanized and tested negative for rabies.

The victim of the dog attack was walking home from a local park, minding his own business when the loose pack of dogs jumped on him and began ripping into his arms, legs and other body parts. The attack was  witnessed by others who stopped and began trying to pull the vicious dogs off the helpless victim. Other neighbors tried, in vain, to help the elderly man as he was being attacked by a number of pit bulls at the same time.

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Dental implants are becoming more common in Georgia. Along with the increased use of implants comes a not so welcomed increase in the number of dental nerve injuries caused by implants being installed improperly by general dentists.

Sensory alteration resulting from the injury results in serious injuries that can be life altering. In some cases, the injuries become much more serious due to the general dentist (who quite possibly negligently installed the implants and caused the nerve injury) is not trained  or otherwise qualified to diagnose and treat the nerve injury. Once this is the case, what was otherwise a potentially temporary injury can morph into a permanent and debilitating injury that can affect almost every life function of the injured dental patient.

Effective management of potentially serious nerve injuries caused by implants is based on providing a timely diagnosis and then treatment such as steroids or anti-inflammatories or corrective surgical intervention as soon as possible after diagnosis of the nerve injury, for best results in properly treating the nerve injury. In other words, the general dentist should timely refer the injured dental implant patient to a nerve specialist. The nerve specialist, in turn, can provide an early diagnosis and recommend the correct course of action for successful treatment. As these injuries become more prevalent, it is more and more apparent that nerve injuries are more likely to be persistent or even permanent when there is an increased period of time between injury and a diagnosis by a competent dental nerve specialist of the patient. If the diagnosis is delayed, there can be irreversible damage to the patient. Unfortunately, as a dental malpractice lawyer who specializes in dental implant injuries, I often see clients who sustained a dental nerve injury, report the symptoms of this injury to the dentist who installed the dental implants, and then these clients are not referred out to a nerve specialist. Rather, they are told that the injury is “normal” and that it will heal on its own over time. Many times, this advice is harmful to the patient and, in some but not all cases, negligent.

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Dental nerve damage can often be caused by dental treatment. Many kinds of treatment have reportedly caused dental nerve damage such as root canals and placement of dental implants in the lower jaw. Despite many types of proposed treatment and many claims of success, many victims of dental malpractice in Georgia have exhibited poor recovery after surgery is attempted to correct dental nerve damage.

After undergoing microneurosurgery, an injured dental patient’s quality of daily life activities may improve because of the resolution of numbness or pain in the tongue, lip, chip or face during movement.  Other areas of sensory perception which may improve after this type of corrective surgery are thermal perception (ability to feel hot or cold) and taste sensation.  Improvements in taste can include recoveries of sweet and salty tastes or recovery of the injured patient’s ability to taste sour things again. It is interesting to note, that even when some semblance of taste is recovered, the taste buds on the side of the tongue that the nerve was injured on are sometimes smaller and less prominent, and this  almost always permanent. It is also common that the subjective taste perception does not mimic an apparent regeneration of the nerve under some of the radiographic tests that are available for this purpose, such as a cone beam CT scan (3D CT), x-rays, MRI or MRN.

I regularly handle cases that involved nerve injuries that were caused by dental procedures. It has been my experience that most of these injuries are traumatic and severe. Due to the nature of the injury, the effects on the injured patient are certainly seen in pain and numbness in the area of the injury. However, many times the patient has far more reaching pain and numbness that cannot be adequately addressed by corrective surgery, pain drugs or therapy. In these cases, the patient’s injuries become debilitating and permanent. In these cases, the injury become much more than simply a physical pain or numbness and it can affect almost every aspect of the patient’s daily life. This can include, but is certainly not limited to, pain while brushing teeth; pain while eating; drooling; unbearable pain in the jaw, face and ear; tremendous anxiety; difficulty sleeping; not being able to work; sexual dysfunction; fear of getting future dental work done; and many other types of problems.

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One prominent nerve repair expert explains the need for quick action one a dental nerve injury is diagnosed: Peripheral nerve injuries requiring surgical intervention will have better results the earlier the nerve is repaired after injury. Therefore, repairs with or without grafting done immediately after the injury have better results, with progressively worsening results if done 3, 6, 9, or 12 months or longer after the injury. Wietholter et al reported best results for IAN (Inferior Alveolar Nerve) and LN (Lingual Nerve) repair if reconstruction was done within 3 weeks of the injury. Early repair circumvents major problems encountered with elapsed time such as Wallerian degeneration, atrophy, and fibrosis in the distal portion of the nerve. Atrophy creates a significant size match discrepancy between the nerve graft and either or both stumps. The time factor reflects the rate and extent of degeneration and atrophy of the distal fascicles prior to nerve repair. However, if the injury is primarily a traumatic neuroma without atrophy or degenerative neurologic changes in the distal portion of the nerve, the time factor may not be as important; that is, whether the repair is done at 3 weeks or 2 years may not make a difference in functional outcome.

However, an Atlanta dental malpractice lawyer who almost always has a number of active clients suffering from nerve injuries caused by root canals, dental implants and tooth extractions, I know what most dentists tell patients who have suffered from these injuries: “Your injury is temporary and it will get better. We need to keep an eye on it and wait. It could take up to two years for you to get better. We will monitor you and we simply have to wait, as there is nothing more to do.” Horrible advice that could possible cause you your right to sue if you wait too long.

In most cases, if you are injured by dental malpractice in Georgia, you have two years from the date of the alleged malpractice. Of course, like every rule, there are exceptions, but the are limited and the general rule, as stated above is what you, as a person who has a serious injury from a dental procedure, should proceed under. Also, if you have a serious injury from a dental procedure, you should hire a lawyer today. Why? Well, the first reason is that, in most cases, you should not follow the advice that dentists typically give patients who have suffered a dental nerve injury. Secondly, the deadlines that may apply to your case are quite complex and no one other than an experienced dental malpractice lawyer who regularly handles these types of cases in Georgia should be relied upon to provide you with legal advice. Finally, the sooner a competent lawyer is advising you, the sooner you have another trusted advisor in your camp who can help you make decisions that can save your health and make sure you protect all of your legal rights. In most cases, if you miss the statute of limitations (or the deadline for filing your lawsuit) your right to sue is lost forever.

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Our firm has had a lot of success recently handling slip and fall cases with catastrophic injuries. Most of these cases revolve around a defect in a walkway or path. This defect can be either in the design of the walkway or in the failure to keep the walkway safe and secure. One way to prove a defect is to rely on ASTM standards.

ASTM International is a globally recognized leader in the development and delivery of voluntary consensus standards. ASTM standards are used around the world to improve product quality, enhance health and safety, strengthen market access and trade, and build consumer confidence. In the United States, they set a standard for what is considered safe.

In regards to walkway surfaces, ASTM standards are as follows:

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A recent article notes that over 60% of people fear going to the dentist. In fact, dentists are feared more than medical professionals such as neurologists and general surgeons. Perhaps the reason for the fear of the dentist arises from the number of dental malpractice cases in Georgia. As dental malpractice attorney in Georgia, I have seen a rise recently in the number of cases of dental malpractice related to the improper placement of dental implants in the lower jaw and improperly performed root canals procedures.

As the article points out, there are a number of ways that you can help alleviate the fear of dentists. The best way I know to eliminate that fear is to choose a dentist carefully. The best way: talk with friends and family and go to a dentist that they have been to before and can highly recommend. The worst way to pick a dentist in my opinion: go to one of the large dental chains such as Coast Dental, Aspen Dental, or Great Expressions. While the care at any of these large dental groups can be excellent, they are extremely large and you may not have the experience or outcome that you desire. The better course is to listen to people you trust and go to a dentist that comes highly recommended.

Another way to lessen the chance of a bad dental experience is to utilize a specialist. For instance, if you need a root canal, you might be better off with an endodontist than a general dentist. That is not to say that all general dentists are not able to perform root canals within the standard of care, it has just been my experience that the level of expertise with general dentists who perform root canals (especially difficult root canals with narrow canals, curved roots or calcified openings) varies greatly. Conversely, most endodontists have the necessary training, experience and tools in their office to competently perform even the most complex root canals.

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Many times, a claim for dental implant malpractice or root canal malpractice involving dental nerve injuries includes a claim for mental pain and anguish. Defendants in these cases typically try to obtain all of plaintiff’s medical and psychiatric records for the previous 10 years, or longer. This type of request was addressed in Brown v. Howard, 778 SE2d. 810 (Ga. App 2015). In holding that the plaintiff’s mental health records were not subject to the defendant “fishing expedition”, the Howard court reasoned as follows:

“Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is relevant to the subject matter involved in the pending action [.]” OCGA § 9–11–26(b)(1). Georgia law provides several privileges related to mental health, which, collectively, are referred to as the “mental health privilege.” State v. Herendeen,279 Ga. 323, 325, 613 S.E.2d 647 (2005). The components of the mental health privilege include

(5) Communications between psychiatrist and patient;

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To the surprise of many, a child can be put to sleep for a dental procedure by a dentist who does not have a medical degree. While this should not be a concern in and of itself, when you couple this with the fact that according to the American Dental Association, educational and training requirements to administer sedation and dental anesthesia in Georgia is governed by the Georgia Board of Dentistry, this creates an alarming and dangerous situation. As a Georgia lawyer who specializes in dental malpractice, including injuries caused by improper administration of anesthesia, I am concerned for the safety and well-being of our children in Georgia (as well as adults who receive general anesthesia when they undergo complicated dental procedures) and would hope someone other than the Georgia Board of Dentistry would oversee this area of dentistry.

While the anesthesia is reportedly administered by dentists with anesthesia training, in almost all cases involving complicated dental procedures such as root canals, dental implants or complicated extractions, the anesthesia is not administered by a medically trained (i.e., and M.D.) anesthesiologist. To make matters worse, dentist can perform sedation and anesthesia themselves without having a physician (anesthesiologist) or dental anesthesiologist present.

This is all concerning for adults, but the problem is exasperated when it comes to parents who bring their children to the dentist and are left in the dark as to what is happening in the exam room. Sedating children is much more complicate and potentially dangerous than sedating adults. There is a much smaller room for error with kids. While state dental boards require the dentist to qualify for a special anesthesia permit, there is no assurance that these dentists who are sedating our children are specially trained and qualified to sedate children — and parents need to know this.  There are no national standards for what the dental anesthesia permit requires, and some states do not require it at all.   And, the standards are determined by the American Dental Association, not by the ABA or by medical boards or even the two national boards for dental anesthesiology. Why this is so, is not immediately clear, but a national standard administered by the medical community seems to make sense.

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General dentists must comply with the standard of care for dentists under like or similar circumstances in Georgia and nationwide. When a dentist fails to comply with this standard of care and a serious injury or death results, a lawsuit for dental malpractice can be filed. A national dental practice, which touts itself as general dentistry for kids has been sued by a mother of a child-patient who died as a result of complications from a dental procedure, and an infection which was alleged to have not been treated properly. According to reports, the infection spread after a follow-up visit to the dentist and sadly took the fear year-old girl’s life.

Infections secondary to dental procedures, while not uncommon, rarely cause death. This is because most patients report back to the dentist and receive the proper treatment to get the infection under control and to make sure that the patient does not become toxic and the infection does not spread. Ludwig’s Angina is one type of dental infection that can cause death if not properly diagnosed and treated by dentists.The majority of cases of Ludwig’s angina are odontogenic in etiology, primarily resulting from infections of the second and third molars (wisdom teeth). In this scenario, the dental infection spreads to the throat and compromises the patient’s ability to breath and can, if not treated cause severe suffering, lack of oxygen to the brain, and even death. With progressive swelling of the soft tissues and elevation and posterior displacement of the tongue, the most life-threatening complication of Ludwig’s angina is airway obstruction. Prior to the development of antibiotics, mortality for Ludwig’s angina exceeded 50%

Even if the original dental procedure that caused the infection was performed within the standard of care, the dentist and the dental practice may be liable for failing to timely diagnose and treat Ludwig’s Angina and/or failing to refer the patient to a specialist in a timely manner.

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