North Georgia Medical Malpractice Attorney
Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice in Georgia
The statute of limitations in Georgia is 2 years for medical malpractice claims. This means you must file your lawsuit within 2 years of the date your injury or loss occurred. Georgia also has a “statute of repose” for injuries that you may not discover right away, such as a retained surgical instrument, but you must still file your claim within 5 years of the negligent act or omission that harmed you.
Additionally, filing a claim in Georgia can be particularly difficult due to the “affidavit of expert” law. Whether you are aware of your injury immediately or you discover it later, you must adhere to the appropriate deadline or lose your right to file entirely.
Under section 9-11-9.1 of the Official Code of Georgia, you must file a special affidavit with your initial complaint. This affidavit must be prepared by a medical expert and offer the sworn opinion that your case involves one or more negligent acts. Other important laws include Georgia’s medical malpractice statute of limitations and the state’s cap on medical malpractice damages.
Call us at (470) 577-8152 to tell us your story and discuss your legal options today.
What is Medical Malpractice?
According to Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research:
- “Medical malpractice is defined as any act or omission by a physician during treatment of a patient that deviates from accepted norms of practice in the medical community and causes an injury to the patient.”
Legally speaking, medical malpractice occurs when all the following legal elements are present:
- The provider owed a professional duty to the patient
- The provider breached this duty
- The patient was injured as a result
- The injury led to specific damages
If you have a doctor-patient relationship with your provider and you are harmed by their negligence, you likely have a case.
Examples of Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice can occur at any phase of treatment. Your doctor may fail to diagnose you with a serious condition after you complain of symptoms, prescribe the wrong drugs, or even discharge you too soon after treatment.
Examples of medical malpractice include:
- Misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose
- Failing to order proper testing
- Misreading or ignoring lab results
- Unnecessary or incorrect surgery
- Surgical errors or wrong-site surgery
- Retained surgical objects
- Disregarding patient history
- Prescribing the wrong dose or medication
- Premature discharge
- Poor follow-up or aftercare
- Pressure ulcers (bedsores)
- Hospital infections
- Birth injuries
- And more
Call us at (470) 577-8152 today or contact us online for a free consultation with our Georgia medical malpractice attorneys.
Medical Malpractice Damages in Georgia
Damages in a medical malpractice case are meant to cover the costs of your treatment and any time you need to take off work. They can also compensate you for pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and more. This second category of damages is called non-economic damages, and unfortunately, they are limited in Georgia medical malpractice cases.
You may only recover $350,000 in non-economic damages from a single health care provider. If more than one provider is responsible for your injury, you can get up to $700,000 in non-economic damages. Under no circumstances can your non-economic damages exceed $1.05 million in a single medical malpractice case.
Note: the Georgia Supreme Court decided this cap on non-economic damages was unconstitutional in 2010, so cases filed after 2010 may not have to adhere to this cap. Still, it is unusual to exceed 1.05 million for non-economic damages in a single case, and there are no limits to economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.
Guiding You Through Medical Malpractice Claims in Georgia
Studies suggest medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States, coming in behind heart disease and cancer. Worse, for every patient that dies, countless more sustain life-changing injuries. In many cases, these injuries are preventable and could have been avoided had providers adhered to the established standard of care.
As you can see, filing medical malpractice lawsuits in and around North Georgia can be complicated. Working with an attorney, however, can lend clarity and help you get through whatever you are facing. At Pritchard Injury Firm, we understand what you are going through. Attorney Zach Pritchard puts himself in your shoes, so he can guide you through the entire legal process and give you exactly what you need.
Although the details of your case matter, we are dedicated to you. You will be working directly with an empathetic, dynamic, and community-driven lawyer, and our legal team is available for you 24/7.
For a law firm that cares, look no further than Pritchard Injury Firm. If you have suffered an injury in any of the situations above, we are here to help. At Pritchard Injury Firm, we protect the injured, we serve our clients, and we win.