The Georgia Court of Appeals released an opinion that appears likely to have a “huge” impact on health privacy laws and who defense counsel can communicate with ex parte in medical malpractice litigation on Wednesday.

The opinion, written by Judge Trea Pipkin, reverses a Hall County Superior Court grant of a plaintiff’s motions for severe sanctions because defense counsel Scott Bailey had several conversations with one of the injured patient’s treating physicians. The result limited the scope of that doctor’s trial testimony and the trial court awarded attorney fees and costs of litigation against the defendants

Superior Court Judge Trea Pipkin of the Flint Judicial Circuit in Henry County, Georgia. (Courtesy photo)

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