Medical malpractice claims are on the rise, and it is important that every individual who faces treatment in a hospital understand their rights in pursuing compensation if they are injured as a result of medical negligence. Those rights vary by state, but most states, including Georgia, have methods by which a victim may not only file suit against a negligent physician, but against the hospital that employs them, when appropriate.
Georgia Medical Malpractice
There are times when patients believe that their care has been inadequate or has not resulted in the kind of cure they had expected. That does not always mean that anyone was negligent. There are conditions that cannot be cure or those that take longer than predicted. There may also be acts on the part of a healthcare professional that are negligent; however, they do not cause injury to the patient. Of those results, neither can be considered medical negligence or malpractice. The key to charging medical malpractice is that the care of a treating physician was not reasonably skillful, that it caused injury, and that injury damaged the victim.
In some cases, if that negligence occurred in a hospital setting, the hospital may also be charged with vicarious liability. However, in the state of Georgia, while there have been laws governing vicarious liability for some time, those laws changed in 2005.
- In cases arising after 2005, if the hospital has posted a statement informing patients that some of their physicians are independent contractors, or if they have personally informed patients of that fact, the hospital may not be charged with vicarious liability unless the physician is an actual agent of the hospital and is under their control.
- In cases prior to 2005, a hospital may be held vicariously liable if the negligent physician is either an actual agent of the hospital or an apparent agent. The law holds that a physician is an apparent agent if the hospital represents them as such or the patient has a reasonable assumption of that status and believes the hospital caused them to rely on the care or skill of that physician.
Filing Claims in Georgia
In addition to understanding the laws regarding negligence and vicarious liability, it is vital for a victim or their family to know the statute of limitations on such cases in Georgia law. If a claim is filed after that date, is will generally be dismissed. For medical malpractice claims, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of injury or death, which may occur after the actual act of negligence. However, even in those cases, the claim may not be filed more than five years after the act of negligence. Malpractice cases also require an affidavit by an expert in the same field as the physician accused of malpractice certifying that the level of care they provided was not up to the standard a reasonable physician in that field would have provided.
Getting Legal Help with Suing a Hospital in Georgia
These elements make it even more complicated to file a medical malpractice claim in the state of Georgia without the help of an experienced Georgia medical malpractice attorney. They not only know the laws in their state, they know how courts generally apply those laws in particular cases. They can help a victim and their families face the difficult process of dealing with their injuries and the knowledge that they did not have to occur, or they did not have to be so severe. A skilled medical malpractice attorney can help pursue the case that will provide the compensation to make their recovery less difficult.
