Professional Negligence Law Reporter

Taylor v. DCH Health Care Auth., No. 63-CV-2014-900872.00 (Ala. Cir. Ct. Tuscaloosa Cnty. May 16, 2019).

Johnny Terrell Sledge, 24, suffered a gunshot wound to his back. He was taken to the DCH Regional Medical Center emergency room, where an emergency room physician recognized the need for surgery. On-call trauma surgeon Bradley Bilton was paged repeatedly but responded that he was in surgery and that someone else should be called to assist Sledge. Staff could not locate another surgeon, and Bilton was paged again. Instead of coming to the emergency room after completing his procedure, however, Bilton started a second elective surgery.

Sledge died while waiting for an emergency laparotomy. He is survived by his family.

Sledge’s estate filed suit against the hospital, its director of trauma services, Bilton and his practice group, and the DCH chief medical officer, alleging failure to timely provide Sledge’s emergency surgery. The plaintiffs alleged that the hospital’s policies and procedures allowed its on-call trauma surgeon to schedule elective surgical procedures on on-call days, making this physician unavailable. Additionally, the plaintiff alleged that the hospital failed to follow its policy requiring it to locate another surgeon when Bilton was unavailable. The plaintiffs did not claim lost income.

The jury awarded the plaintiff $30 million in punitive damages.

Plaintiff counsel: AAJ members Derrick Mills, David Marsh, and Jane Mauzy, all of Birmingham, Ala.