Austin v. Kaufman

Pope, Judge.

Jessie Mae Austin, a 60-year-old woman, underwent a routine lumbar diskectomy for correction of a herniated disc at the L4-L5 level. During the course of the operation, defendant Dr. G. Phillip Kaufman severed the patient’s left iliac artery and extensively injured the left iliac vein. Mrs. Austin began hemorrhaging during surgery, and after several unsuccessful surgical attempts were undertaken to repair the damage to her vascular system, Mrs. Austin died. This medical malpractice action was brought against Dr. Kaufman and Cobb Neurological Associates, P.C., by the decedent’s…