DeKalb County Jury Awards $15 Million Over Blood Draw That Left Patient Paralyzed
After trial: No appeal, appellate opinion, or later ruling in the case turned up in any source reviewed, so the verdict is treated as final; no Georgia appellate decision under this caption was located. Collectability is listed as paid because the defendant, Emory Healthcare, is a large, institutionally backed academic health system that had already admitted liability before trial, not because a source confirmed the payment itself.
Won by Bell Law Firm.
Cris Nelson lost consciousness during a routine blood draw at an Emory Healthcare clinic in 2012 and fell from the exam table where he had been seated without support, breaking his neck and leaving him a quadriplegic. Emory Healthcare admitted liability for the fall before trial, so the case that went before a DeKalb County jury in spring 2016 was limited to the value of the injury. On May 3, 2016, the jury awarded $15 million: $12 million to Nelson and $3 million to his wife, Deborah, for loss of consortium. No appeal turned up in any source reviewed.
What happened
In 2012, Cris Nelson went to an Emory Healthcare clinic in Covington, Georgia, for a routine wellness exam that included a blood draw. The medical assistant handling the draw seated him upright on an exam table, with no support and nothing to stop a fall if he lost consciousness.
Nelson passed out during the draw, fell, and struck his head. The fall broke his neck and caused a spinal cord injury classified at the C5 to C8 level, leaving him quadriplegic and paralyzed from the chest down. He was 55 at the time of trial, spent most of his waking hours in a wheelchair, and depended on others for basic daily tasks. Emory's evidence at trial pointed to function he had regained, including moving his legs, walking with crutches and driving, which the defense used to argue the injury was worth less than Nelson claimed.
Nelson and his wife, Deborah, sued Emory Healthcare, Emory Specialty Associates, and the medical assistant who performed the draw, arguing the clinic failed to follow the standard of care for a patient who could faint during venipuncture, including failing to seat him in a proper phlebotomy chair or otherwise prepare for the possibility that he would lose consciousness. Before trial, Emory admitted liability for the fall. That left the jury with a single question: what the injury was worth.
Opening statements came on April 26, 2016, in Decatur, in the State Court of DeKalb County, case number 14A53202E2. Because liability was no longer contested, the testimony focused on Nelson's medical needs going forward, the assistance he requires for ordinary tasks, and how much function he had lost for good. Nelson's attorney, Lloyd Bell of the Bell Law Firm, argued for an award covering his client's lost earning capacity as well as a lifetime of medical treatment and personal care. Emory's attorneys, John Hall, Jeffery Saxbe, and Christina Hadley of Hall Booth Smith, argued the injury did not justify an award as large as Bell was seeking, while not disputing that Emory bore responsibility for the fall itself.
On May 3, 2016, the jury returned its verdict: $12 million to Cris Nelson and $3 million to Deborah Nelson for loss of consortium, a total of $15 million. Courtroom View Network, which covered the trial, later placed the case ninth on its list of the ten most impressive plaintiff verdicts of 2016.
No appeal turned up in any source reviewed. Emory Healthcare is a large academic health system, and nothing in the public record suggests an obstacle to collection.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.Courtroom View Network, May 2016: verdict amount and breakdown, verdict date, case number 14A53202E2, venue (Decatur), plaintiff's and defense counsel by name and firm, Emory's admission of liability
- 2.Courtroom View Network, Apr 28 2016: opening statements on April 26 2016, clinic location (Covington), Nelson's condition and the defense evidence on regained function, counsel for both sides
- 3.Courthouse News Service, Oct 14 2014: case background, defendants, venue (DeKalb County, Georgia), C5-8 quadriplegia and paralysis from the chest down, plaintiff's counsel Lloyd M. Bell of Bell Law Firm
- 4.Courtroom View Network year-end feature: the case ranked ninth among CVN's top plaintiff verdicts of 2016, $15 million total, Lloyd Bell as plaintiff's counsel
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