Background
Brenda Clark sued Northeast Georgia Medical Center and Northeast Georgia Health System after her husband, Travis Clark, allegedly was dropped by a hospital employee while being transferred from one bed to another. Clark alleged that the May 2023 fall caused injuries that ultimately led to Travis Clark’s death.
Clark’s original complaint characterized the claims as ordinary negligence and did not include an expert affidavit. After the defendants argued that the claim was medical malpractice requiring an affidavit under OCGA § 9-11-9.1, Clark amended her complaint to add an alternative professional-negligence claim supported by an expert affidavit. The trial court dismissed both complaints.
The Court’s Holding
The Court of Appeals of Georgia reversed. Construing the complaint in Clark’s favor, the court held that allegations that an unidentified hospital employee dropped a patient during a transfer did not necessarily present a medical-malpractice claim. The event could have resulted from a physical act requiring no expert medical judgment, and the complaint did not establish that the employee was a professional covered by the affidavit statute.
The court also held that Clark could amend her viable ordinary-negligence complaint to plead medical malpractice in the alternative and attach an expert affidavit. Although the amendment was filed after the medical-malpractice limitations period, it arose from the same occurrence alleged in the timely original complaint and therefore related back under OCGA § 9-11-15(c).
Key Takeaways
- A patient injury in a hospital does not automatically make the claim medical malpractice.
- Whether a claim requires an expert affidavit turns on whether it necessarily involves expert medical judgment and a covered professional.
- An alternative medical-malpractice claim may relate back to a timely ordinary-negligence complaint arising from the same event.
Why It Matters
The decision reinforces that courts must assess the substance of a hospital-injury allegation, not merely its medical setting, before dismissing for lack of an OCGA § 9-11-9.1 expert affidavit. At the pleading stage, a claim survives if the alleged facts could support ordinary negligence.
It also confirms that a plaintiff may add a properly supported professional-negligence theory after filing a timely ordinary-negligence complaint when both claims arise from the same conduct or occurrence.