What Is the “Standard of Care” in a Georgia Medical Malpractice Case?
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The standard of care is the level of skill Georgia law requires of a medical professional: O.C.G.A. § 51-1-27 says a person professing to practice medicine “must bring to the exercise of his profession a reasonable degree of care and skill”. Two things change how it is applied: it is proved through qualified experts in the defendant’s field, and for emergency care in a hospital emergency department or obstetrical unit, the plaintiff must prove gross negligence by clear and convincing evidence.
What the ordinary standard asks
The question is not whether the outcome was bad. It is whether the provider’s care fell below the reasonable degree of care and skill that § 51-1-27 requires, and whether that shortfall caused the injury. A complication can follow careful treatment, and a good recovery does not excuse a careless one.
Three practical points follow:
- The field sets the benchmark. The care of a nurse, a radiologist, or an obstetrician is measured against practice in that profession and specialty, which is why Georgia’s expert rules require the testifying expert to have experience in the relevant area; the qualification rules are explained in who can sign the expert affidavit in a Georgia malpractice case.
- Experts carry the proof from the first filing. A malpractice complaint must be filed with an expert affidavit identifying at least one negligent act or omission and its factual basis (§ 9-11-9.1); see the pre-suit requirements for a Georgia malpractice case.
- Choices between accepted approaches. Whether picking one of several recognized methods can be a breach is a defense question; how Georgia law treats it is covered in the “two schools of thought” doctrine.
The emergency exception: gross negligence, clear and convincing proof
Section 51-1-29.5(c), enacted in 2005, provides that in a claim “arising out of the provision of emergency medical care in a hospital emergency department or obstetrical unit or in a surgical suite immediately following the evaluation or treatment of a patient in a hospital emergency department”, no physician or health care provider is liable “unless it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that the physician or health care provider’s actions showed gross negligence”.
| Ordinary malpractice claim | Emergency care covered by § 51-1-29.5 | |
|---|---|---|
| What must be shown | Lack of a reasonable degree of care and skill | Gross negligence |
| Standard of proof | Preponderance of the evidence (§ 24-14-3) | Clear and convincing evidence |
| Jury instructions | Ordinary | Jury must consider whether the provider had the patient's history, any prior relationship, and the circumstances of the emergency (§ 51-1-29.5(d)) |
The statute does not cover everything that happens in an emergency room. “Emergency medical care” means care for a condition with acute symptoms severe enough that delay “could reasonably be expected to result in placing the patient’s health in serious jeopardy”, and it “does not include medical care or treatment that occurs after the patient is stabilized” (§ 51-1-29.5(a)(5)).
Two Supreme Court decisions show how this works:
- Nguyen v. Southwestern Emergency Physicians (2015). An infant was triaged as a non-emergency patient and sent to the emergency department’s “fast track” area after a fall, then returned two days later with a skull fracture. The Court held there was a genuine factual dispute over whether the heightened standard applied at all, so summary judgment for the providers was error.
- Abdel-Samed v. Dailey (2014). A patient arrived after midnight with an injection injury to his finger that needed emergency surgery; the physician believed by 1:00 a.m. that he needed a hand surgeon but took no further step to complete a transfer until 7:33 a.m. The Court agreed the emergency statute applied, but held the evidence allowed a jury to find gross negligence.
Gross negligence in general Georgia law is explained in ordinary versus gross negligence. Whether the hospital also answers for an emergency physician’s negligence is a separate question, covered in when a Georgia hospital is liable for a doctor’s malpractice.
Questions that frame a standard-of-care review
- What was the provider’s profession and specialty?
- What did the provider know, or have available, at the time of each decision?
- Was the care given in an emergency department, obstetrical unit, or surgery immediately after ER treatment, and was the patient still unstabilized?
- Is there a qualified expert in the same field who will state a specific departure from the standard?
- Can that expert connect the departure to the injury?
Sources
- O.C.G.A. §§ 9-11-9.1, 24-14-3, 51-1-27, 51-1-29.5.
- Abdel-Samed v. Dailey, 294 Ga. 758 (2014)
- Nguyen v. Southwestern Emergency Physicians, P.C., 298 Ga. 75 (2015)
General information about Georgia law as of October 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.