Birth injury claims in Georgia medical malpractice

A Georgia birth injury claim is a malpractice claim about care in pregnancy, labor, delivery, or the first hours afterward. Its special features are the child’s own time limit under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-73, the stricter proof that can apply in an emergency, and the difficulty of proving what caused a neurological injury. A child hurt at birth has until the seventh birthday to sue, with a tenth-birthday outer limit. The mother’s own claim does not get that extra time.

Whose claim, and which clock

One delivery can produce several claims with different deadlines.

Claimant	Claim	Time limit
Child	The child's injuries	Two years from the fifth birthday, so the seventh birthday is the last day, under § 9-3-73(b); no later than the tenth birthday under (c)(2)(A)
Mother	Her own injuries	Two years from the injury and five from the act, under § 9-3-71
Family after the death of a child	Wrongful death under § 19-7-1(c)	Two years from the death, § 9-3-71(a)
Family after the mother's death	Wrongful death under § 51-4-2	Two years from the death, § 9-3-71(a)

Parents’ claims for the cost of a child’s care should be dated separately. They should not be assumed to share the child’s schedule. The general rules, including the seventh-birthday calculation, are on the malpractice limitation page.

The fetal heart rate tracing

Continuous fetal monitoring produces a record of the baby’s heart rate and the mother’s contractions over time. In a labor case, experts can be expected to read that tracing alongside nursing notes and the times of decisions. The categories used to describe tracings come from obstetric practice, and whether a given pattern called for action is a matter for expert testimony in that case. Hospitals keep these records in different forms, so a request should ask for the complete tracing and not only a summary.

Who may be a defendant

Possible defendants include the obstetrician, a nurse midwife, labor and delivery nurses, an anesthesia provider, a pediatric team, and the hospital. Experts have to match. A physician can address a nurse’s or midwife’s care if § 24-7-702(c)(2)(D) is met, because the paragraph names “nurse midwives”. A nurse or midwife cannot address a physician’s standard. Each defendant needs an affidavit that fits, as described in multiple expert affidavits. Where a physician is not a hospital employee, § 51-2-5.1 may apply.

The emergency standard can apply in an obstetrical unit

O.C.G.A. § 51-1-29.5(c) requires “clear and convincing evidence” of “gross negligence” in a claim arising out of emergency medical care “in a hospital emergency department or obstetrical unit”. Its definition of emergency care is limited to “bona fide emergency services” for an acute condition, and it excludes care after a patient is stabilized or unrelated care. A labor that develops into a sudden emergency is the case where this argument appears. Whether the care at issue was emergency care, and from which moment, can decide the standard the jury hears. Emergency room malpractice claims covers the definition.

Causation is the central medical fight

The plaintiff has to connect the care to the injury. Under Zwiren v. Thompson, the expert’s opinion must be “in terms stronger than that of medical possibility”. A child’s neurological injury can have causes other than labor, which is why the defense can be expected to look at pregnancy history, infection, prematurity, the placenta, and genetics. A case may need testimony from more than one specialty, and the placenta, if kept, can be important evidence.

A shoulder complication during delivery raises a similar question: whether the injury came from what the team did, or would have occurred anyway. The written account of what was done and when, including how the time was recorded, becomes the factual base. Because medical literature on these points develops, experts should work from what the standard was at the date of the birth.

Damages over a lifetime

Economic damages can include future care, equipment, and lost earning capacity, and each requires its own evidence, which can include a life care plan. Under § 51-12-13, the factfinder may reduce future economic damages to present value at 5 percent “or any other discount rate”. For causes of action arising on or after April 21, 2025, § 51-12-1.1 governs medical expense evidence.

Who owns the claim for each item is a question to settle early. A parent’s expenses during childhood and the child’s own later losses can sit in different hands. When a child’s claim settles, § 29-3-3 sets the court approval and conservator rules, and it allows structured settlements or trusts on court-approved terms.

Noneconomic damages are addressed by Nestlehutt and Clark v. Leigh. The size of a case should not be assumed from reports of others. A life care plan and an economist’s calculation are the items that can be tested.

Records to request early

• the complete prenatal chart and the hospital admission record;
• fetal monitoring tracings for the entire labor;
• labor and delivery nursing notes, and any operative report;
• newborn resuscitation records, cord blood results, and imaging;
• placental pathology, if performed.

A parent can request them under the rules described in the medical records article. The Georgia outer limit gives a child’s case more time than an adult’s, but people and records do not stay available for that time. If the hospital is a public body, the notice deadlines come first.

Sources

• Official Code of Georgia Annotated, November 2022 public release: §§ 9-3-71, 9-3-73, 19-7-1, 24-7-702, 29-3-3, 51-1-29.5, 51-2-5.1, 51-4-2, 51-12-13
• Zwiren v. Thompson, 276 Ga. 498
• Senate Bill 68, as passed (2025): Section 7, Section 9(b)

This page was last reviewed in November 2026 for general information. Laws and court decisions can change after that date. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship.