A Georgia hospital can be responsible in three ways: for an employee’s negligence, for a doctor it held out as its own, and for its own institutional failures. The chart may show which, but the contract behind it is what decides the first two.
Employees. Under O.C.G.A. § 51-2-2, a hospital answers for nurses, technicians, and employed physicians acting within the scope of their jobs.
Independent contractors. A physician with an independent practice may not be the hospital’s employee, under § 51-2-4. Apparent agency may be argued where the hospital held the doctor out as its own and the patient relied on that. A consent form saying doctors are independent contractors is what the hospital will point to, and a patient brought in by ambulance who didn’t choose the doctor has a different reliance argument.
The hospital’s own conduct. Direct claims include negligent credentialing, failing to supervise, poor equipment, and policy failures. Federal conditions of participation, such as nursing services at 42 C.F.R. § 482.23, can be part of the proof, but they aren’t a Georgia cause of action by themselves.
Section 9-11-9.1(a)(3) requires an expert affidavit when a licensed facility is alleged to be liable based on the acts of a listed health care professional. A wet floor in the lobby is a different kind of claim.
For emergency department and obstetrical unit care, § 51-1-29.5(c) demands gross negligence by clear and convincing evidence. A public hospital authority may raise separate immunity and notice questions, so the first step there is finding out who owns the hospital.
The same two-year and five-year limits in § 9-3-71 apply. Under § 51-12-33, the jury may spread fault between hospital and physician.
General information about Georgia law as of November 2026. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.