Court Opinion

ID: 9847608
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:03:07.577433+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:22.979088
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur.
Dr. Klaus’ testimony was not offered as expert opinion. He was *507not being asked to give his opinion, as an expert qualified to give an opinion as to whether what someone else did met accepted medical standards, i.e., that degree of care and skill exercised in the medical profession generally. See, e.g., Landers v. Ga. Baptist Medical Center, 175 Ga. App. 500 (333 SE2d 884) (1985). He was not even being offered as an expert witness. Such a witness is called for the purpose of assisting the fact finders in specialized matters which they would have no knowledge of in their common lay experience. See Pilgrim v. Landham, 63 Ga. App. 451, 454 (11 SE2d 420) (1940). Experts in a particular field, who have been trained and have gained experience in that field, are permitted to give such opinion testimony. OCGA § 24-9-65; Smith v. State, 247 Ga. 612 (277 SE2d 678) (1981); Baker v. State, 161 Ga. App. 670, 672 (3) (288 SE2d 280) (1982).
But here, Dr. Klaus was the treating physician of a plaintiff who was suing for personal injuries allegedly caused by the defendant. Thus it was critical for her to prove what those injuries were and what damages she sustained as a result. Obviously, the treatment she received after the alleged injury was pertinent. That is what Dr. Klaus was called upon to describe. He was simply asked to tell the jury who he was, what the plaintiff’s condition was, what he did about it, and to a certain extent, why.
This is simply not opinion testimony and should not have been stricken, as the court did with all of it, upon the objection stated. See, e.g., Hawkins v. Greenberg, 166 Ga. App. 574 (304 SE2d 922) (1983).
As recognized by the majority opinion, the only question soliciting opinion was whether all the treatment he rendered was necessary. That question was not specifically objected to. Sutphin v. McDaniel, 157 Ga. App. 732, 733 (1) (278 SE2d 490) (1981); Hudson Properties v. C & S Nat. Bank, 168 Ga. App. 331, 332 (1) (308 SE2d 708) (1983); Benjamin v. State, 172 Ga. App. 3, 4 (2) (321 SE2d 769) (1984).
Moreover, it is almost superfluous to ask a treating physician if what he did was necessary. Even if that question was objectionable and had been properly objected to, allowing the doctor to inform the jury that what he did was necessary would amount to harmless error.
Finally, in response to the dissent’s consideration of the treating physician’s testimony as cumulative, it does not appear to be so. The treating physician was the most qualified person to describe the plaintiff’s condition and medical treatment. Without this testimony directly describing the injury and the treatment addressed, by the person giving it, the jury may well have found that plaintiff had not proved by a preponderance of the evidence what her damages were.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Deen joins in this special concurrence.
*508Decided March 21, 1986
Philip L. Ruppert, for appellants.
Kenneth W. Krontz, for appellee.