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Fayetteville, GA—A medical malpractice proceeding over a Georgia woman’s death from an undiagnosed brain tumor ended in mistrial Monday after jurors declared themselves deadlocked. New, et al. v. Starr’s Mill Internal Medicine, et al., 2022SV-0393.
Fayette County (Georgia) State Court Judge Jason Thompson declared the mistrial after jurors announced they were unable to reach a verdict over whether Dr. Anthony Lawson was responsible for the 2020 death of Christy New. Jurors had deliberated in the case for more than 10 hours across two days.
New, 32, died in August 2020 from complications caused by a hemangioblastoma, a benign, slow-growing tumor in her brain. In March and April of that year, New had seen Lawson, of Starr’s Mill Internal Medicine, three times, complaining at different times of headaches, ear pressure, and dizziness, among other symptoms.
New’s family claims Lawson treated New for allergies and potential migraines but failed to properly follow up on symptoms of a possible neurological condition, which they say could have revealed the tumor in time to save her. Lawson contends he followed the standard of care in treating New.
The mistrial wrapped a week-long proceeding focused largely on whether Lawson acted properly in addressing New’s symptoms. During closing arguments last Friday, Chance, Forlines, Carter & King’s Xavier Carter, representing New’s family, walked jurors through evidence that he said showed Lawson was negligent in failing to refer her for further exams or testing to rule out potential neurologic causes of symptoms she complained of the final time she saw him.
“Even if he had no prior history with her, when she presented on April 23, that required an escalation of care,” Carter said. “[It required] either a referral to a neurologist, or a referral to get imaging: a CT or MRI.”
But the defense contended Lawson’s treatment plan followed an appropriate differential diagnosis and the standard of care, given her symptoms. During her closing last Friday, Huff Powell Bailey’s Sarah Akinosho reminded jurors that the tumor New suffered from was extremely rare, and said Lawson acted appropriately in treating New for more common, likely causes of the symptoms the records show she complained of.
“Were there signs and symptoms of persistent, recurrent headaches at any time after Dr. Lawson put his treatment plan in place? Did his treatment plan work for what Ms. Lawson came into him [for care] that day [of her final visit to him] ?” Akinosho asked, adding that New did not complain of headaches on a later visit to another healthcare provider. “I would submit to you that it did.”
In an emailed statement after the mistrial, Lawson’s attorney, Huff Powell Bailey’s Daniel Huff, was complimentary of all sides of the courtroom. “The case was well tried by a great team of lawyers representing the plaintiff, and by Sarah Akinosho, who led the defense. Judge Thompson and his staff were terrific throughout the trial.” Huff wrote. “The jury was divided despite being very attentive and taking diligent notes.”
And in her statement to CVN, the New family’s attorney, Chance, Forlines, Carter & King’s Lindsay Forlines wrote that, while she was disappointed in the mistrial, her team had learned from the outcome.
“While a hung jury is never our desired result, we were pleased that, in a hard-fought case, we had eight jurors voting in our favor and four against,” Forlines wrote. “In speaking with the jury afterward, we learned valuable feedback, especially from those who voted against us. We feel ready and renewed for when the trial gets reset.”
Email Arlin Crisco at acrisco@cvn.com.
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