$22M malpractice verdict after CT scan canceled when patient couldn’t sit still for exam

Editor's note: This story was updated on July 29 to include a statement for Gainesville Radiology and its legal representative.

A widow has been awarded a $22 million malpractice verdict after her husband was unable to lie still for a CT scan, leading to an eventual missed diagnosis. 

Rabun County, Georgia, jurors settled on the eight-figure sum on June 26 following a trial that started 11 days prior. The case dates to September 2018 when Carol and David Tucker were rear-ended in a car accident near Tallulah Falls, Georgia, according to the Cook Law Group, which represented the couple. 

Mr. Tucker, who was 71 at the time, suffered neck, back and chest pain and was transported to the Habersham County Medical Center emergency room. ER doc Christopher Ratchford, MD, reportedly ordered a CT scan of the patient’s neck, but Mr. Tucker was unable to lie flat for the scan because of back pain. 

Dr. Ratchford instead switched the request to neck X-rays, which the ER physician interpreted as negative for any serious injuries, according to Cook Law. Radiologist Richard Cory, MD, with Gainesville Radiology Group, subsequently read the X-rays two days later and came to the same conclusions. 

However, after Mr. Tucker returned to his job as a truck driver four days after the incident, he developed severe neurological problems that impacted his legs, leading to him collapsing in a McDonald’s parking lot, according to Gainesville, Georgia-based Cook Law. He was again transported to an ER and received the needed CT imaging. These scans showed that Tucker had fractures in his neck and upper back, along with an epidural hematoma compressing his spine. 

Providers transported Tucker to a trauma center for emergency surgery. However, the incident left him paraplegic, relying on a wheelchair for the next six years, with his wife of 57 years providing regular care. Attorneys filed the lawsuit in 2020, and Mr. Tucker later died in July 2024 due to complications from his paraplegia. 

Defense attorneys, meanwhile, have denied the allegations. Daniel J. Huff, an attorney who represented Gainesville Radiology, emphasized that Dr. Cory was not part of the clinical decision-making in this case. His entire involvement was interpreting plain X-rays of the cervical spine and chest. Five experts, including a nationally renowned neurorad, testified that Cory's interpretation was "completely accurate and met the standard of care." All agreed that the radiographs showed no fracture nor evidence of injury. 

The patient suffered from a condition called DISH (diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis), which shows exuberant flowing and irregular bone formation of the ligament in the front of the spine, Huff added. Even the plaintiff's key witnesses were unable to identify a fracture and acknowledged that the findings were "subtle." 

"In fact, the plaintiff’s two radiology experts could not agree on what might or might not have been fractured, each pointing to different areas on the X-ray," Huff, with Atlanta-based Huff, Powell & Bailey, said in a statement to Radiology Business. 

Additionally, the plaintiff had alleged that the cervical X-ray showed pre-vertebral soft tissue swelling, Huff noted. Two board certified rads who testified for the plaintiff "completely disagreed" whether there was swelling and at what levels it was present, "literally contradicting each other." A subsequent CT scan, shared with the jury, confirmed Dr. Cory's accurate interpretation that there was no pre-vertebral soft tissue swelling. The actual, undisputed cause of Mr. Tucker's paralysis was an epidural hematoma in the thoracic spine. Dr. Cory had reviewed a cervical spine series, and the area ultimately responsible for the patient's paralysis was not even included on the X-rays he interpreted. 

"We very strongly believe that Dr. Cory met the standard of care in his interpretation," Huff told Radiology Business. "Incredulously, the jury came to a different conclusion and assigned a small percentage of fault to Dr. Cory in this emotional case. Unlike what was reported [by the news media], the jury did not find him grossly negligent. Dr. Cory is in no way responsible for the $22 million verdict."

"The newsworthy part of this story is that a radiologist can do everything right and still end up on the wrong side of a verdict," Huff added. "Unfortunately, despite his accurate interpretation, Dr. Cory got swept up in a verdict that was never truly about clinical care and now is being portrayed as a negligent pawn. We had a great radiologist who read the exam correctly, great expert witnesses, excellent evidence, and excellent testimony from the defendant radiologist. That is a case that we typically win." 

According to the court decision, the final figure includes $6 million for the wrongful death of David Tucker, $10 million toward his estate, and $6 million for Carol Tucker’s loss of consortium. Mrs. Tucker had reportedly sent two $1 million settlement demands in 2021, believing this to be the two providers’ insurance policy limits. However, both were rejected and Dr. Ratchford’s insurer, MAG Mutual, reportedly made no offer.

“Although we believed the case was worth much more than the insurance limits at the time, our clients made the demands so that Mr. Tucker could obtain much needed medical care he required before he died,” attorney Matt Cook said in a press release. 

You can read more about the case from Law.com and the Gainesville Times, with Cook Law posting both of their stories about the case on its website.