Beach v. Lipham

Fletcher, Chief Justice.

Following an eight-day trial, the jury in this medical malpractice action returned a defense verdict in favor of the doctor and hospital. The Court of Appeals of Georgia affirmed in a two-page unpublished opinion.1 We granted the plaintiffs’ petition for the writ of certiorari to consider whether trial courts in medical negligence cases should give the standard jury instruction on the presumption that medical services are performed in an ordinarily skillful manner. Because the presumption charge did not unfairly accentuate the plaintiffs’ burden of proof in this case…