Suing doctors versus hospitals in Georgia medical malpractice

The choice doesn’t have to be one or the other. A Georgia plaintiff names the people and entities whose conduct caused the harm and who can be held responsible for it, and the question turns on employment, notice, public status, and who a jury could assign fault to. O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33 lets a jury divide fault, including to some non-parties, so leaving someone out has a cost. Each added defendant also has a cost, because each needs expert support.

The legal position of each possible defendant

Defendant	Basis	Limits to check
Physician	Own conduct, § 51-1-27	Affidavit under § 9-11-9.1; emergency rule in § 51-1-29.5
Physician's group	Employer of the physician, § 51-2-2	Scope of employment
Hospital, for its employee	§ 51-2-2	Scope of employment
Hospital, for a contractor	Only with actual agency or employment if notice was given, § 51-2-5.1(b)	Posted notice or signed acknowledgment
Hospital, for its own conduct	Claim about its own care or service, § 9-3-70(2)	Peer review limits on evidence, § 31-7-133
State facility or employee	Georgia Tort Claims Act	Name only the entity, § 50-21-25(b); notice; limit in § 50-21-29

Why leaving someone out has a cost

Under § 51-12-33(b), damages are divided by the percentages of fault of “the persons who are liable”. Subsection (c) tells the factfinder to consider “the fault of all persons or entities who contributed to the alleged injury or damages”, whether or not they were sued. A defendant can give notice under (d) that a non-party is at fault. A share assigned to someone who is not in the case can be money the plaintiff does not collect. The non-party fault page has the mechanics, including the 120-day notice.

The same section matters for a plaintiff’s decision about a marginal provider. If a jury might put fault on that provider, then leaving them out may reduce recovery, and suing them requires an expert and a good-faith basis. Lawyers weigh the two.

Why adding someone has a cost

Each provider in a different profession or specialty may need a different expert, as multiple expert affidavits explains. The expert’s three-of-five-years test is measured at the date of that defendant’s act. Each new defendant also has a time limit of its own under § 9-3-71, and a public defendant has a notice requirement.

Insurance is a real consideration, and an unknown

People ask who can pay. No general rule tells a plaintiff what coverage a provider has. Policy information can be requested in discovery under § 9-11-26(b)(2), and a pre-suit request may or may not get an answer. A reader who needs to know whether a given provider must carry a stated amount should ask counsel to check the current licensing rules for that profession, because assumptions about coverage should be tested rather than repeated.

Settling with one and not another

When one defendant settles, the case can proceed against the others, and § 51-12-33(c) keeps the question of that person’s fault alive. A release should be read carefully for who is released. If a hospital is liable only because of an employee, releasing the employee can raise questions for the claim against the hospital. Those questions are for counsel to review before signing. The general steps are on settlement documentation.

Questions that identify the defendants

1. Who touched the case, from the chart: ordering, reading, treating, charting?
2. Who employed each of them? Billing statements and letterheads help.
3. Is the entity on the sign the legal owner of the hospital?
4. Was a § 51-2-5.1 notice posted or signed?
5. Is any entity public?
6. Which of these people does the expert actually criticize?

The sixth question is the limit on the rest. An expert has to support each claim. A plaintiff cannot name a person simply because that person is insured.

Whom to sue is a case-specific call

A person’s lawyer makes that judgment on the records. For the general structure of a hospital’s liability, see vicarious liability and hospital negligence, and for the contractor rule, independent contractor physicians. An infection acquired during a stay has its own proof problems, covered in hospital-acquired infection claims, and how malpractice differs from other injury claims lists the added steps.

Sources

• Official Code of Georgia Annotated, November 2022 public release: §§ 9-3-70, 9-3-71, 9-11-9.1, 9-11-26, 31-7-133, 50-21-25, 50-21-29, 51-1-27, 51-1-29.5, 51-2-2, 51-2-5.1, 51-12-33

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.