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Renfroe v. Arrington5/24/1999
In the Court of Appeals of Georgia
SM-008
Joann Renfroe filed a complaint alleging dental malpractice against Ronnie Arrington. The trial court granted summary judgment to Arrington on two of the three counts and denied summary judgment on the remaining count. These appeals followed.
In Case Number A99A0154, Renfroe appeals the trial court's ruling granting summary judgment to Arrington on Count One, and in Case Number A99A0155 Arrington cross appeals. Because we conclude that Arrington was entitled to summary judgment on all counts of Renfroe's complaint, we affirm the trial court's judgment in Case Number A99A0154, and we reverse its judgment in A99A0155.
The material facts of this case are essentially undisputed. Arrington performed dental work for Renfroe over a period of several months, beginning in February, 1995. After performing a dental examination and concluding that Renfroe had mild to moderate periodontal disease, either Arrington or his hygienist performed periodontal cleaning, filled teeth, extracted two teeth, and prepared and fitted Renfroe with dentures. Arrington last saw Renfroe in early August, 1995. In October, 1995, Renfroe was diagnosed with subacute infectious endocarditis. This disease, according to Arrington, "is an infection of the lining of the heart or the heart valves caused by a blood borne bacteria or other organism. Patients with histories of certain heart problems or rheumatic fever are at risk of [contracting] subacute infectious endocarditis and it is generally considered appropriate to administer an antibiotic as a prophylactic measure prior to undertaking any dental procedure which could cause bleeding."
Renfroe filed this malpractice action, alleging in Count One that her illness was caused by Arrington's failure to obtain a proper medical history and to consult a physician as indicated by her available medical history. In Count Two, she alleged that Arrington extracted teeth without a contemporaneous x-ray film to determine whether, and how much, infection existed in the area of her extracted teeth. In a third count, she alleged that Arrington caused her illness by his failure to ensure that her gums were "periodontally sound" before fitting her for dentures. The trial court granted summary judgment to Arrington on Count One, concluding that even assuming Arrington failed to take a proper medical history, Renfroe did not show how this failure caused her illness. The court also granted summary judgment to Arrington on Count Three, on the ground that Renfroe failed to show that Arrington's alleged failure to ensure that her gums were periodontally sound proximately caused Renfroe's illness. The trial court denied Arrington's motion concerning Count Two, however, concluding that genuine issues of material fact exist.
1. In Case Number A99A0154, the trial court correctly concluded that Renfroe failed to show that Arrington's alleged failure to properly obtain her medical history proximately caused her injuries. This claim involves a medical history portion of a patient information form Renfroe completed during her initial visit with Arrington. The second page of the form asks the following questions: "Do you have or have you had any of the following diseases or problems?" Two columns of blocks appear on the form for the patient to mark "yes" or "no" to the question. Renfroe checked "no" to all boxes in the left-hand column indicating that she had never suffered from rheumatic fever or rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart lesions, cardiovascular disease, high or low blood pressure, anemia or blood disorder, asthma or bronchitis, diabetes, shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing, and several oth
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